Kenny Atkinson discusses winning Coach of the Year
Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson was named NBA Coach of the Year on Monday night after leading the Cavaliers to 64 wins in his first season.
It’s awards season in the NBA, and so far, nothing for the Indiana Pacers.
And we mean nothing. Not a single vote for NBA Executive of the Year, Coach of the Year, Most Improved Player, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year and Clutch Player of the Year.
In all, 1,890 1st, 2nd and 3rd place votes were cast for the above awards… and not a single one went to anyone associated with the Pacers. And that’s despite Indiana having the fourth-best record in the league since Jan. 1.
The biggest gripe might be with Executive of the Year for Kevin Pritchard and Coach of the Year for Rick Carlisle. You can make an argument for Andrew Nembhard to get some love for his defense or T.J. McConnell off the bench and possibly Tyrese Haliburton for the Clutch Award. But nada, nothing, zilch.
KJ Pritchard, Kevin’s son, posted on social “0% chance there’s 13 better than my dad. Argue a wall.”
But the Pacers aren’t completely empty-handed. One Indiana player did receive votes for the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award. That would be James Johnson, who finished eighth in the voting. Johnson played a total of 37 minutes this season and hasn’t played since March 10. So he had plenty of time to be a good teammate.
His role has always been that of a veteran leader and enforcer, if needed. He led the much-talked about anonymous players survey from The Athletic for the player you’d least like to get in a fight with for the fourth year running (Johnson is an MMA fighter).
Here’s how all the voting shook out, with MVP still to come, and don’t expect any Pacers votes there, either.
2025 NBA Executive of the Year voting
| Name, Team | 1st (5 pts) | 2nd (3 pts) | 3rd (1 pt) | Total Points |
| Sam Presti, OKC | 10 | 6 | 6 | 74 |
| Koby Altman, CLE | 6 | 8 | 4 | 58 |
| Trajan Langdon, DET | 6 | 5 | 7 | 52 |
| Rafael Stone, HOU | 4 | 5 | 3 | 38 |
| Lawrence Frank, LAC | 1 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
| Rob Pelinka, LAL | 1 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| Mike Dunleavy, GSW | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Sean Marks, BKL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Brad Stevens, BOS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Leon Rose, NYK | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Monte McNair, SAC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Jeff Weltman, ORL | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Brian Wright, SA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
2025 NBA Coach of the Year voting
| Name, Team | 1st (5 pts) | 2nd (3 pts) | 3rd (1 pt) | Total points |
| Kenny Atkinson, CLE | 59 | 33 | 7 | 401 |
| J.B. Bickerstaff, DET | 31 | 44 | 18 | 305 |
| Ime Udoka, HOU | 7 | 13 | 39 | 113 |
| Mark Daigneault, OKC | 2 | 7 | 10 | 41 |
| Tyronn Lue, LAC | 1 | 3 | 21 | 35 |
| JJ Redick, LAL | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
2025 NBA’s Most Improved Player voting
| Player, Team | 1st (5 pts) | 2nd (3 pts) | 3rd (1 pt) | Total Points |
| Dyson Daniels, ATL | 44 | 36 | 4 | 332 |
| Ivica Zubac, LAC | 23 | 18 | 17 | 186 |
| Cade Cunningham, DET | 15 | 11 | 14 | 122 |
| Christian Braun, DEN | 9 | 15 | 30 | 120 |
| Austin Reaves, LAL | 3 | 4 | 12 | 39 |
| Evan Mobley, CLE | 2 | 3 | 2 | 21 |
| Amen Thompson, HOU | 1 | 2 | 7 | 18 |
| Deni Avidija, POR | 1 | 3 | 3 | 17 |
| Tyler Herro, MIA | 1 | 3 | 2 | 16 |
| Josh Giddey, CHI | 1 | 2 | 2 | 13 |
| Payton Pritchard, BOS | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Toumani Camara, POR | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| OG Anunoby, NYK | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Jalen Williams, OKC | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
2025 NBA Rookie of the Year voting
| Player, Team | 1st (5 pts) | 2nd (3 pts) | 3rd (1 pt) | Total points |
| Stephon Castle, SA | 92 | 7 | 1 | 482 |
| Zaccharie Risacher, ATL | 5 | 64 | 28 | 245 |
| Jaylen Wells, MEM | 3 | 23 | 39 | 123 |
| Alex Sarr, WAS | 0 | 5 | 19 | 34 |
| Zach Edey, MEM | 0 | 1 | 7 | 10 |
| Kel’el Ware, MIA | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Matas Buzelis, CHI | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Jared McCain, PHI | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
2025 NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting
| Player, Team | 1st (5 pts) | 2nd (3 pts) | 3rd (1 pt) | Total points |
| Evan Mobley, CLE | 35 | 30 | 20 | 285 |
| Dyson Daniels, ATL | 25 | 17 | 21 | 197 |
| Draymond Green, GSW | 15 | 20 | 19 | 154 |
| Luguentz Dort, OKC | 11 | 12 | 18 | 109 |
| Amen Thompson, HOU | 9 | 12 | 12 | 93 |
| Ivica Zubac, LAC | 4 | 4 | 2 | 34 |
| Jaren Jackson Jr., MEM | 0 | 1 | 6 | 9 |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo, MIL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Toumani Camara, POR | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Bam Adebayo, MIA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Derrick White, BOS | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Rudy Gobert, MIN | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
2025 NBA Sixth Man of the Year voting
| Player, Team | 1st (5 pts) | 2nd (3 pts) | 3rd (1 pt) | Total Points |
| Payton Pritchard, BOS | 82 | 13 | 5 | 454 |
| Malik Beasley, DET | 13 | 66 | 16 | 279 |
| Ty Jerome, CLE | 2 | 12 | 45 | 91 |
| De’Andre Hunter, CLE | 2 | 2 | 17 | 33 |
| Naz Reid, MIN | 1 | 5 | 11 | 31 |
| Nickeil Alexander-Walker, MIN | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| Russell Westbrook, DEN | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Alex Caruso, OKC | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
2025 NBA KIA Clutch Player voting
| Player, team | 1st (5 pts) | 2nd (3 pts) | 3rd (1 pt) | Total points |
| Jalen Brunson, NYK | 70 | 24 | 4 | 426 |
| Nikola Jokic, DEN | 26 | 58 | 8 | 312 |
| Anthony Edwards, MIN | 2 | 5 | 22 | 47 |
| Trae Young, ATL | 0 | 5 | 29 | 44 |
| Stephen Curry, GSW | 1 | 3 | 13 | 27 |
| Darius Garland, CLE | 0 | 0 | 16 | 16 |
| LeBron James, LAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | 14 |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Donovan Mitchell, CLE | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Kyrie Irving, DAL | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Tyrese Maxey, PHI | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Jayson Tatum, BOS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
2025 Twyman-Stokes NBA Teammate of the Year voting
| Player, Team | 1st (10 pts) | 2nd (7 pts) | 3rd (5 pts) | 4th (3 pts) | 5th (1 pt) | Total points |
| Stephen Curry, GSW | 66 | 39 | 30 | 46 | 36 | 1,257 |
| Steven Adams, HOU | 46 | 54 | 46 | 42 | 43 | 1,237 |
| Jalen Brunson, NYK | 36 | 38 | 31 | 38 | 30 | 925 |
| DeAndre Jordan, DEN | 33 | 35 | 41 | 31 | 24 | 897 |
| Nicolas Batum, LAC | 33 | 37 | 26 | 36 | 41 | 868 |
| Donovan Mitchell, CLE | 22 | 42 | 42 | 30 | 36 | 850 |
| Al Horford, BOS | 29 | 34 | 35 | 31 | 38 | 834 |
| James Johnson, IND | 34 | 28 | 24 | 23 | 26 | 751 |
| Jaylin Williams, OKC | 32 | 17 | 25 | 28 | 42 | 690 |
| Brook Lopez, MIL | 13 | 20 | 50 | 36 | 29 | 657 |
| Tobias Harris, DET | 21 | 30 | 23 | 28 | 29 | 648 |
| Jaren Jackson Jr., MEM | 26 | 17 | 18 | 22 | 17 | 552 |
