ATLANTA – The Atlanta Hawks today announced guard Kevin Huerter as the recipient of the 2021-22 Sekou Smith Award, which annually honors the player on the team’s roster who best represents themselves and the franchise with professionalism and integrity in their interactions with the media.
Huerter was selected via vote from a select local media panel. He will be recognized tonight during a pregame presentation, which will include members of Smith’s family.
“Kevin is a very deserving recipient of this honor from the Atlanta media. Since the day he was drafted, Kevin has been accommodating, honest and available to media, respecting the work that the media does in telling the story of our team to the fans,” said Hawks Senior Vice President of Public Relations Garin Narain. “We are proud that Kevin continues to uphold the values of professionalism and candor with the media, two aspects of the job that Sekou was a master at.”
John Collins was the inaugural winner of the award last season. In addition to the award, the Hawks named the media workroom at State Farm Arena after Smith, redesigning the space to honor his memory. The team also launched an annual Hawks-NBA Summer League internship in Smith’s name last year. Clement Gibson was the inaugural Sekou Smith intern.
Smith served as the AJC’s Hawks beat writer from 2005-09 before joining NBA Digital as a multimedia reporter and analyst. He also spent time at The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, MS and the Indianapolis Star, where he covered the Indiana Pacers as the team’s beat writer.