The NBA today announced that Clippers Head Coach Doc Rivers has been named a finalist for the 2018-19 NBA Coach of the Year Award and that guard Lou Williams and forward Montrezl Harrell have both been named finalists for the 2018-19 KIA Sixth Man of the Year Award, as voted on by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The winners will be announced at the third annual NBA Awards presented by Kia on Monday June 24th at 6:00 p.m. PT on TNT, held at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica.
Under Rivers’ leadership, the Clippers finished the 2018-19 season with a 48-34 record and earned the eighth seed in the Western Conference Playoffs. L.A. became the fifth team in NBA history to win at least 45 games without an All-Star. Rivers, who became the seventh coach in NBA history to win at least 300 games as head coach of multiple franchises in the Clippers win over Brooklyn on March 17, previously won the NBA’s Coach of the Year honor in 1999-00 as the Head Coach of the Orlando Magic.
Already a two-time Kia Sixth Man of the Year Award winner, Williams became the NBA’s all-time leading reserve scorer and this season became the only player in NBA history to average 20+ points in under 27 minutes per game. Williams averaged 20.0 points, 5.4 assists, and 3.0 rebounds per game.
Harrell, 25, appeared in all 82 games for L.A. this season, averaging career-highs in points (16.6), rebounds (6.5), assists (2.0), blocks (1.3), steals (0.9), and minutes (26.3). He ranked fifth in the NBA this season in field goal percentage (61.5%) and ranked fourth among reserves in both scoring and rebounding. Harrell joins Tommy Heinsohn (18.9 ppg and 7.5 rpg in 1962-63) as the only players in NBA history to appear in at least 50 games and average at least 16 points and 6 rebounds in under 26.5 minutes per game.
Together, Williams and Harrell became the highest scoring bench duo in a single-season in NBA history.
In addition to the announcement of the Kia Sixth Man of the Year Award and the Coach of the Year, the NBA Awards will also reveal the winners of the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player, Kia NBA Rookie of the Year, Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Kia NBA Most Improved Player, NBA Basketball Executive of the Year Award, the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award, the NBA Sportsmanship Award, the Season-long NBA Cares Community Assist Award presented by Kaiser Permanente, the NBA Hustle Award, and the House of Highlights Moment of the Year.