2025 NBA awards: How the HoopsHype ballot would look

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Although we may agree with the consensus that three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic remains the best player in the world, the MVP award is reserved for the top regular season performer and in 2024-25, that has been none other than Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 

Gilgeous-Alexander leads the NBA in scoring this season at 32.7 points per game, to go with his 5.0 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks on 51.9/37.5/89.8 percent shooting splits. The former Kentucky standout also leads the league in nightly made free throws at 7.9. The advanced analytics also highly rate Gilgeous-Alexander’s production this season, with SGA ranking first in Win Shares per 48 Minutes (WS/48) while sitting second in Box Plus/Minus (BPM) and Value Over Replacement Player (VORP). 

Of course, the detractors can point to the fact that Jokic himself has been spectacular once more in 2024-25, ranking first in BPM and VORP, and second in WS/48, while looking to become just the third player in league history to average a triple-double for a full season. The Serbian superstar is putting up 30.0 points, 12.8 rebounds and 10.2 assists to go with 1.8 steals on 57.7 percent shooting from the floor, and 41.5 percent from three. Statistically, that might be the greatest non-Wilt season ever. (BPM has it No. 2 in that regard, behind only Jokic’s masterful 2021-22 season.)

Even so, when taking the full picture into account – team records (the Nuggets just fired championship-winning head coach Michael Malone as the team sits at 47-32 while OKC has the best record in the NBA at 65-14), defense, Gilgeous-Alexander being an offensive force all unto himself, as well as games played (SGA has nine more games played than Jokic in ‘25) – that left us with Gilgeous-Alexander as the MVP for 2024-25.

Full vote

1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
2. Nikola Jokic
3. Giannis Antetokounmpo
4. Jayson Tatum
5. Anthony Edwards
6. Cade Cunningham
7. Donovan Mitchell

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With the San Antonio Spurs’ season falling apart following Victor Wembanyama’s issue with a blood clot, rookie Stephon Castle made a strong late-season run as the featured player for San Antonio, enough for our voters to declare him Rookie of the Year for 2024-25.

Historically, when there hasn’t been a clear-cut runaway winner for Rookie of the Year, voters often just go to the rookie putting up the strongest raw statistics. That gives Castle a solid case, as the former UConn Husky is putting up 14.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game this season.

Castle’s strong close to the campaign – the 20-year-old is putting up 19.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists on 45.2 percent shooting in 23 appearances since Feb. 26 – will also be fresh in voters’ minds, leading us to believe the first-year Spur will be taking home Rookie of the Year for this season.

Reigning No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher has had a nice rookie campaign in his own right, just not enough for our voters to give him the nod over Castle here.

Full vote

1. Stephon Castle
2. Zaccharie Risacher
3. Jaylen Wells
4. Zach Edey
5. Yves Missi

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Despite Draymond Green’s best effort to speak another Defensive Player of the Year award into existence, our voters took into account the entirety of the season here, leading us to vote Cleveland Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley as Defensive Player of the Year for 2024-25.

Mobley has put up 0.9 steals and 1.6 blocks this season while anchoring a Cavs defense that ranks eighth in points given up per 100 possessions (111.9). Mobley’s mobility at the 4-spot, his length picking pockets and defending the rim, and his instincts on the point-stopping end of the floor make him one of the most impactful defenders in basketball.

Another strong contender in our vote was Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels, who leads the league at 3.0 steals per game. It says a lot about Daniels’ ridiculous point-stopping prowess that he’s going to get Defensive Player of the Year votes in a season in which his team ranks bottom five in defensive efficiency. But Daniels is that good on that end of the floor.

Oklahoma City’s Lu Dort also got some love here, but the Thunder have such a strong defensive team around him that Dort’s individual season on the defensive end is probably getting overlooked a bit.

Full vote

1. Evan Mobley
2. Dyson Daniels
3. Lu Dort
4. Draymond Green
5. Amen Thompson
6. Toumani Camara

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One of the most divisive yearly NBA accolades tends to be Most Improved Player, with much of the discourse stemming from the fact that it’s very difficult to define what constitutes a player improving. After all, it wasn’t all that long ago that Brandon Ingram and Ja Morant, two one-time No. 2 overall draft picks, won Most Improved Player despite getting off to solid starts in their careers.

Regardless, our voters went with Atlanta’s Daniels as this year’s Most Improved Player.

Traded by the New Orleans Pelicans, who own the NBA’s second-worst defense this season and who have been decimated by injuries, Daniels has turned into a fantastic campaign for Atlanta, one that has seen him go from averaging 5.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.4 steals to 14.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists and a league-leading 3.0 steals nightly. Daniels has also gone from being a career 31.2 percent three-point shooter to hitting 34.6 percent of his outside looks in 2024-25.

Cade Cunningham and Ty Jerome also got some love here from our voters, but Daniels was ultimately the guy for this accolade, in our estimation.

Full vote

1. Dyson Daniels
2. Cade Cunningham
2. Ty Jerome
2. Payton Pritchard
5. Christian Braun
5. Deni Avdija
5. Austin Reaves

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An award that consistently has gone to the top bench player on one of the best teams every season, our voters went with Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard as Sixth Man of the Year for 2024-25.

Pritchard is averaging a career-high 13.9 points to go with 3.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game on 40.6 percent shooting from beyond the arc for a Celtics team that’s 59-21 this season and No. 2 in the East.

Detroit’s Malik Beasley did make this a very close call, as the former Florida State standout is having a huge season off the bench for the Pistons, putting up 16.2 points on 41.3 percent from three, but ultimately, our voters went with Pritchard here.

Full vote

1. Payton Pritchard
2. Malik Beasley
3. Naz Reid
4. Alex Caruso

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The distinction of being clutch is usually reserved for perimeter players for some reason, but Jokic has averaged some clutch-time stats this season that could put supposedly clutch players to shame. According to the NBA’s official website, Jokic has averaged 47.4 points per 100 possessions on 55.2 percent shooting (42.9 percent from three) to go with 16.5 rebounds and 11.6 assists in clutch time this campaign.

Sheesh.

Where would Denver be without its three-time league MVP?

Full vote

1. Nikola Jokic
2. Jalen Brunson
3. Anthony Edwards
4. Stephen Curry

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There is no wrong choice here at the top, as both first-year head coaches in their respective new jobs, Detroit’s JB Bickerstaff and Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson, are more than deserving of this honor.

And our vote was a close one, as only six points separated Atkinson from Bickerstaff here. Ultimately, the fact that the Cavaliers own the NBA’s second-best record this regular season after being far less convincing in 2023-24 (ironically under Bickerstaff’s tutelage) was enough to sway our voters in Atkinson’s favor.

Cleveland, led by an offensive scheme featuring loads of cutting off the ball and excellent scoring and playmaking out of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, has the NBA’s second-best net rating this season at plus-9.6 after ranking 12th league-wide in the same stat last season at just plus-2.5.

Of course, Detroit did just make one of the biggest single-season turnarounds in NBA history, becoming the first team in league history to win 14 fewer games one year and then make the playoffs in the subsequent campaign. And Bickerstaff deserves a whole lot of credit for bringing stability and leadership to the Pistons’ bench.

Even so, we went with Atkinson for his hand in turning the Cavs from a solid regular-season team to a regular-season juggernaut.

Full vote

1. Kenny Atkinson
2. JB Bickerstaff
3. Ime Udoka
4. Mark Daigneault

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All-NBA 1st Team

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Anthony Edwards
Jayson Tatum
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Nikola Jokic

All-NBA 2nd Team

Jalen Brunson
Donovan Mitchell
Cade Cunningham
Evan Mobley
Karl-Anthony Towns

All-NBA 3rd Team

Tyrese Haliburton
Stephen Curry
James Harden
LeBron James
Alperen Sengun

Apparently, in the NBA today, age is just a number, as our 3rd Team All-NBA is littered with old-timers who remain pretty close to the top of their abilities, including LeBron James (40), Stephen Curry (37) and James Harden (35).

It’s worth noting that if James actually makes an All-NBA team this season, he would have as many All-NBA selections as Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain combined.

If our vote comes true, this would also be the first All-NBA honors for former No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham, as well as for Mobley and Alperen Sengun

Others receiving votes: Ivica Zubac, Jaylen Brown, Devin Booker

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All-Rookie 1st Team

Stephon Castle
Jaylen Wells
Zaccharie Risacher
Yves Missi
Zach Edey

All-Rookie 2nd Team

Dalton Knecht
Matas Buzelis
Kel’el Ware
Alex Sarr
Donovan Clingan

A big-man heavy rookie class at the top, players like Yves Missi,
Zach Edey, Matas Buzelis, Kel’el Ware, Alex Sarr and Donovan Clingan have had solid rookie campaigns, and we believe all should be honored with All-Rookie honors. That’s six out of the 10 spots going to players who are either centers or power forwards.

Also receiving votes: Isaiah Collier, Carlton Carrington

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All-Defensive 1st Team

Lu Dort
Dyson Daniels
Amen Thompson
Draymond Green
Evan Mobley

All-Defensive 2nd Team

Jalen Williams
Toumani Camara
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Jaren Jackson Jr
Ivica Zubac

Also receiving votes: Jaylen Brown, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Bam Adebayo

Our All-Defensive teams feature a who’s who of top point-stoppers in the NBA today. The big new names here are Amen Thompson, Jalen Williams and Toumani Camara. In particular, the 22-year-old Thompson is a special athlete and competitor – and has a legitimate Defensive Player of the Year ceiling.