6th Man of the Year Award Odds + Where the Knicks and Nets Stand

The award for the best reserve player in the association appears to be coming to New York. Knicks’ guard Immanuel Quickley has played phenomenal basketball down the stretch. He’s a big reason why the Knicks Magic number is down to a game with four still to play. The Nets are right on their tail but appear locked into the 6th seed.

With four games remaining in the season, Immanuel Quickley is the big favorite to win the 6th Man of the Year Award. Quickley has stepped up in his 3rd season with the Knicks, improving his field goal percentage and his point total.

The former Kentucky standout was not expected to be in contention for this award prior to the season’s start. On December 13th FanDuel was giving him +50000 odds to win the award. Quickley was able to rise to the top in large part due to his play in the second half. The Knicks solidifying themselves as a playoff team also helped.

Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon is the only other guy still with a shot. Brogdon, like Quickley, is averaging 14 points a game. He’s having his best career 3-point shooting year percentage-wise. Brogdon played consistently this year but didn’t catch people’s eyes the way Quickley did down the stretch. In other words, Brogdon did not lose this award, Quickley won it.

You could have gotten much better value for Quickley earlier in the season or even a few weeks ago. Now it would take a sizable wager to get something in return for his 6th Man of the Year Award odds.

The Knicks knocked off the Cavaliers last night in what was likely a first-round playoff preview. Jalen Brunson went for 48 points, including 33 in the first half. With the Knicks essentially locked into the 5th seed they won’t have much to play for in the last four games of the season. 

The Knicks are 3-1 vs the Cavaliers this year. Their win last night was their first in Cleveland. Donovan Mitchell will be the biggest problem for the Knicks during a playoff series. Mitchell had 42 points last night and shot 6-9 from three. Tom Thibodeau will have to come up with a plan that Neutralizes Mitchell or hope that he goes cold. 

If the Knicks are able to take care of the Cavaliers it would likely mean a meeting with the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Milwaukee Bucks. The Knicks are 0-3 against the Bucks this year.

The Nets decided to deal stars, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving before the trade deadline. Still, they did not lose their grip on a playoff spot. The Nets being locked into the 6th seed means they are likely going to have a best of 7 with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Nets are 0-3 against the 76ers this year but will play them again in their season finale. The Nets will be big underdogs in a first-round series with Philadelphia. 

Mikal Bridges was the Net’s top acquisition at the trade deadline. Bridges was a good player in Phoenix but has exploded with the Nets. In 22 games, he’s averaging over 27 a game while being remarkably efficient.

The Knicks and Nets are close in the standings, yet the Knicks have significantly better title odds than the Nets. The Knicks have been playing better basketball but the discrepancy in odds has more to do with the visions of each front office. The Knicks are on an upward trajectory while the Nets seemed to throw in the white towel at the trade deadline.

The +60000 title odds DraftKings is giving the Nets are much longer than other NY Sportsbooks. It’s also much longer than where they opened the season, at +650. 

The long odds of each team is also due to how strong the top of the east is. Milwaukee and Boston each have the two best odds to win it all.