Knicks' Immanuel Quickley finishes second in NBA Sixth Man of the Year voting
After helping the Knicks earn the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference and providing a consistent spark off the bench, Immanuel Quickley finished second in voting for the 2022-2023 NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award on Thursday night.
Boston Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon took home the award with 60 first-place votes, 35 second-place votes and three third-place votes for a total of 408 points. Quickley had 34 first-place votes, 49 second-place votes and nine third-place votes for a total of 326 points. Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis finished third with 97 total points.
The 23-year-old averaged 14.9 points on 44.8 percent shooting, 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game over 28.9 minutes of action in 81 games, including 60 off the bench this season. In total, he scored 1,209 points this season with 735 of them coming off the bench.
Quickley took a huge step forward during his third season in the NBA and his case for the annual award picked up steam during the last two months of the regular season. Quickley averaged 19.7 points per game over 15 contests in March, including scoring outbursts of 38 points in a double-overtime win over the Celtics and a career-high 40 points in a win over the Houston Rockets. However both of those performances came as a starter, as his highest scoring game off the bench came on March 29 against the Miami Heat when he scored 24 points.
Brogdon averaged 14.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game over 26 minutes per night in 67 contests, all of which he came off the bench. He became the first player in NBA history with at least 125 three-pointers, 250 rebounds, and 225 assists off the bench in a season. Brodgon is also the first Celtic to win the award since Bill Walton in 1986.
Only three Knicks have won the Sixth Man of the Year Award since its inception in 1983 -- Anthony Mason (1994-1995), John Starks (1996-1997) and J.R. Smith (2012-2013).
