NBA Awards 2023: Full List of Finalists for MVP, DPOY, ROY, 6th Man of Year, COY, MIP

The NBA released the full list of finalists for its top individual awards on Friday's edition of NBA Tip-Off prior to the Chicago Bulls at Miami Heat play-in game.

Highlighting the list, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić, Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid and Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo were named the three MVP finalists, as expected.

Jokić is looking for his third straight MVP award. Antetokounmpo seeks his third MVP as well after winning in 2019 and 2020. Embiid, the league's leading scorer, would get his first MVP award.

Here's a look at all the finalists for the MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man of the Year, Coach of the Year and Clutch Player of the Year awards alongside some analysis on who could be taking home the hardware and why.

MVP

• Giannis Antetokounmpo, MIL
• Joel Embiid, PHI
• Nikola Jokić, DEN

Defensive Player of the Year

• Jaren Jackson Jr., MEM
• Brook Lopez, MIL
• Evan Mobley, CLE

Rookie of the Year

• Paolo Banchero, ORL
• Walker Kessler, UTAH
• Jalen Williams, OKC

Most Improved Player

• Jalen Brunson, NYK
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC
• Lauri Markkanen, UTAH

Sixth Man of the Year

• Malcolm Brogdon, BOS
  
• Bobby Portis, MIL
• Immanuel Quickley, NYK

Coach of the Year

• Mike Brown, SAC
• Mark Daigneault, OKC
• Joe Mazzulla, BOS

Clutch Player of the Year

• Jimmy Butler, MIA
• DeMar DeRozan, CHI
• De'Aaron Fox, SAC

A case can be made for all three MVP candidates, but early returns show that Embiid is the clear leader in the race.

Max Croes, who tracks public ballots for the NBA awards, posted this update on Friday:

It's easy to see why Embiid may be the choice. He just averaged 33.1 points on 54.8 percent shooting, 10.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks for the third-place 76ers. Embiid also caught fire in March, notably posting 36.2 points on 61.3 percent shooting in 10 games from March 2 to 20. He added 52 points and 13 boards against the Boston Celtics on April 4.

The Defensive Player of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year races should be close. This is what the DPOY ledger looked like on Tuesday:

Memphis Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. is the league's top shot-blocker and an absolute menace down low. Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley is the top defensive player on the league's best defensive team. Brook Lopez has been a shot-blocking machine for the NBA's best regular-season team, the Milwaukee Bucks. And Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, the 2016-17 Defensive Player of the Year, is seemingly a perennial candidate for this honor.

The Sixth Man of the Year award will be between a pair of Atlantic Division guards in the New York Knicks' Immanuel Quickley and the Boston Celtics' Malcolm Brogdon.

Quickley led a tremendous Knicks bench that continuously stepped up when called upon en route to helping New York earn its most regular-season wins (47) since 2012-13. He was particularly dominant when he was asked to start, dropping 22.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 21 starts.

Brogdon was tremendously efficient for the second-place C's, shooting a career-best 44.4 percent from beyond the arc. He was third on the team in scoring (14.9 PPG) despite being sixth on the team in minutes (26.0 MPG).

There isn't a debate for some of these races.

For example, Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown is a lock for Coach of the Year. In his first season in Sacramento, Brown led the Kings to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Not only that, but Sacramento finished as the Western Conference's No. 3 seed, its highest mark since 2002-03 season. Brown has already won the National Basketball Coaches Association's Coach of the Year award.

The Rookie of the Year will be Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero, who showed why he was selected with the No. 1 pick. Banchero averaged 20.0 points and 6.9 rebounds per game for a Magic team that improved from 22-60 to 34-48. It appears he will be a near-unanimous selection for the award, per Croes' compilations:

Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen should cruise to the Most Improved Player title as well. He developed into the top player on a Jazz team widely expected to be at or near the bottom of the NBA standings after dealing Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert.

Instead, Markkanen averaged a career-high 25.6 points (up from 14.8 PPG the year before) as the Jazz finished just three games out of the play-in tournament picture. The sixth-year forward also received All-Star honors for the first time.

This is the first season for the Clutch Player of the Year award, which "will honor the NBA player who best comes through for his teammates in the clutch." It is named after Los Angeles Lakers legend Jerry West, who had a penchant for coming through in the clutch time and again during his career. This year's nominees are no strangers to coming through in the clutch, with Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler, Chicago Bulls wing DeMar DeRozan and Sacramento Kings point guard De'Aaron Fox named as the first-ever finalists.