In order to improve their scoring off the bench, the New York Knicks executed a trade in February to acquire sharpshooters Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks from the Detroit Pistons.
Both of the newcomers got off to rough starts for their new team (this is Burks’ second tenure with the Knicks). Burks hasn’t been a part of their regular rotation due to his struggles and hasn’t appeared in either of their playoff games. Bogdanovic, who recently turned 35, did seem to get more comfortable as he played more games for New York. Still, his numbers off the bench with the team didn’t seem to merit Sixth Man of the Year consideration. One voter apparently felt otherwise.
Knicks Reserve Surprisingly Receives Sixth Man Love From Voter
Bojan Received One Third-Place Vote
The final voting for 2023-24 Sixth Man of the Year was awfully close up top. Naz Reid of the Minnesota Timberwolves eked out winning the award over Malik Monk of the Sacramento Kings. Reid and Monk were separated by just two first place votes. The other finalist was Bobby Portis of the Milwaukee Bucks who finished third.
Scrolling down to the bottom of the voting results, Bojan Bogdanovic of the Knicks pops up. One voter gave him a third-place vote. That allowed him to finish tied for ninth in the Sixth Man of the Year voting.
The complete voting results for the 2023-24 Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year. pic.twitter.com/wfP9hbqTOQ
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 24, 2024
Now in his 10th NBA season, Bogdanovic was barely eligible for consideration. Prior to being traded, he started 27 of his 28 appearances with Detroit. Bogdanovic came off the bench in all 29 games with the Knicks. Therefore, he made 27 starts and had 30 games as a reserve. A player must come off the bench more often than they started to be eligible for Sixth Man of the Year.
Since nearly all his bench work came with the Knicks, Bogdanovic didn’t exactly light up the league in the role. With the team, he averaged 10.4 points and 2.0 rebounds on 43.0% shooting (37.0% from three). He played 19.2 minutes per contest.
Yes, his numbers on the season look more impressive when including his time with the Pistons. Bogdanovic also wasn’t a reserve for them, and they came on an awful team.
Did the Voter Accidentally Vote for the Wrong Bogdanovic?
There is a Bogdanovic who was receiving Sixth Man of the Year consideration this season. It just wasn’t Bojan.
Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Atlanta Hawks finished fifth in the Sixth Man of the Year voting. He played 79 games (46 coming off the bench) and averaged 16.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.2 steals. His 92.1% accuracy from the free throw line was third-best in the league in 2023-24.
Did the voter accidentally vote for the wrong Bogdanovic? While Bogdanovic of the Knicks did play better as the season went along, not even New York’s fanbase was clamoring for him to receive Sixth Man of the Year consideration. Josh Hart would have been a strong candidate for the Knicks, except he barely made more starts (42) than reserve appearances (39).
Bogdanovic has scored 19 points in the Knicks first two playoff games. New York looks to go up 3-0 in their first-round matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday.
