The new idea would expand the award for the best player

Over the past few years, some big names have taken home the NBA Player of the Year award. Barring Dyson Daniels, who deservedly won the award for his incredible jump in production from 2023-24, such as Ja Morant, Lauri Markkanen and Tirese McKay, all won the award after earning the first All-Star calls of their careers.

In this sense, the award was won by players who logically took the next step in their development, and not those who may have improved significantly, almost surprisingly, compared to the previous season. That’s exactly what Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints is recently pointed out during a recent segment with Tomer Azarly.

“It’s really hard for me to look at this award and look at it honestly because I think it’s ridiculous. I think this award is just a joke and I think we should split it into Most Improved First Team and Most Improved Second Team. And to have some kind of incentive if it results in their contract, maybe there’s some kind of waiver where they can sign for it,” he said, per the X of ClutchPoints post.

The argument is simple. Rather than awarding the MIP award almost every year to the first All-Star, the first team and second team would at least ensure that other stars who have also improved greatly are recognized for the award.

Seigel singled out stars like Ryan Rollins, Colin Gillespie and Anthony Black, all of whom deserve credit for the degree to which they’ve progressed. Rollins, for example, is averaging 16.8 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game for the Milwaukee Bucks, upping his numbers from 6.2 points and 1.9 rebounds and assists per game.

Gillespie averaged 5.9 points and 2.4 assists and rebounds per game last season, but is averaging 13.6 points, 4.8 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game for the Phoenix Suns this campaign.
In the end, Black also averaged 15.7 points and 3.9 rebounds and assists per game, up from 9.4 points and 3.1 assists per game. All three players may have improved to a greater degree than Jalen Duren, who is the bookies’ favorite to win the award this year.

However, that’s unlikely to actually win Duren, who effectively sealed it with the first All-Star appearance of his career.