The L.A. Clippers’ Jamal Crawford is the winner of the 2015-16 Kia NBA Sixth Man Award for his contributions in a reserve role, the NBA announced today. He becomes the first player in NBA history to earn the honor three times. The 36-year-old Crawford also breaks his own record, set two years ago, as the oldest winner.
Crawford amassed 51 first-place votes and 341 total points from a panel of 130 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. The Golden State Warriors’ Andre Iguodala finished second with 288 points (33 first-place votes), and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Enes Kanter was third with 182 points (19 first-place votes).
Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote. To be eligible for the award, players had to have come off the bench in more games than they started.
Crawford came off the bench in 74 of his 79 appearances and averaged 14.2 points and 2.3 assists in 26.9 minutes in all games, helping the Clippers (53-29) post their fourth straight 50-win season. He recorded 33 games with 15 or more points off the bench, third most in the NBA and led the Clippers in 4th quarter points (341). As a starter, Crawford scored at least 30 points in four of five games. Crawford also ranked second in the NBA in free throw percentage (90.4).
A 16-year veteran, Crawford previously won the Kia NBA Sixth Man Award in 2009-10 with the Atlanta Hawks and in 2013-14 with the Clippers. When Crawford was honored for the first time as a Clipper, he joined Kevin McHale, Ricky Pierce and Detlef Schrempf as the only two-time winners. Crawford is the only player to win the award with multiple teams.
As part of its support of the Kia NBA Sixth Man Award, Kia Motors America (KMA) will donate a brand new Sorento CUV to the Watts Willowbrook Boys & Girls Club on Crawford’s behalf. Kia will present a 2016 Sorento to the charity of choice of each of five 2015-16 year-end award winners as part of the Kia NBA Performance Awards. Following this season, Kia will have donated a total of 43 new vehicles to charitable organizations since its support of the NBA’s prestigious honors began in 2008.
The 2015-16 Kia NBA Sixth Man Award is part of a series of on-court performance awards called the Kia NBA Performance Awards. The series, currently in its ninth season, is part of a multiyear marketing partnership between Kia Motors and the NBA, and includes five of the league’s most prestigious year-end honors: Kia Most Valuable Player, Kia Defensive Player of the Year, Kia Sixth Man, Kia Most Improved Player and Kia Rookie of the Year. The series also includes the Kia NBA Eastern and Western Conference Rookies of the Month and the Kia NBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month during the regular season. Kia Motors is the Official Automotive Partner of the NBA and the Kia Optima is the league’s Official Vehicle. For more information, please visit www.kia.com/NBA.
For the third year in a row, complete media voting results for each NBA annual award will be posted on nba.com/official after the announcement of each winner. Click here for those results.
Below are the balloting results for the 2015-16 Kia NBA Sixth Man Award. The balloting was tabulated by the independent accounting firm of Ernst & Young LLP.
