The NBA Most Improved Player award has been one of the toughest to get a handle on over the last few seasons. Each of the last five years has seen a player make their first All-Star team and then win the award with four of those five being former top-10 picks. And Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick isn’t a fan of this trend.
Redick has been singing the praises of Austin Reaves all year long and rightfully so as the guard is enjoying the best year of his career. But Reaves has gotten little traction for the Most Improved Player award. Instead, the favorite for most of the year has been Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, the top overall pick in 2021 who made his first All-Star appearance this season.
After a recent Lakers practice, Redick spoke on the Most Improved Player award and and the league’s failure to define exactly what it is meant to be, which has led to the spirit of it being lost.
Hard to disagree with JJ Redick here on the NBA Most Improved Player award: pic.twitter.com/xUJVMTdzil
— Daniel Starkand (@DStarkand) April 2, 2025
Redick’s complaints about the award basically going to a high draft pick who makes his first All-Star team while on a max contract is one many have had over the years. In fairness, last year’s winner Tyrese Maxey was not even a lottery pick, though the four before him: Lauri Markkanen, Ja Morant, Julius Randle and Brandon Ingram, all fit that bill.
Over the past couple of days, Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels has suddenly leaped ahead of Cunningham as the betting favorite for the award. While he is still a former lottery pick, Daniels would seem to better fit the spirit of the award that the Lakers coach spoke of, leading the league in steals by a large margin and becoming one of the best defensive guards in the NBA after making little impact in his first two seasons in the league.
While Reaves won’t get the recognition for this award that Redick feels he should, the Lakers guard has still put the world on notice this season and perhaps these words from his coach can help get the award back closer to what it was meant to be.
JJ Redick says Lakers must build ‘playoff mentality’ over rest of the season
JJ Redick’s primary concerns remains getting the Lakers ready for what they hope is a long postseason run and he believes the team has to build that through the rest of the regular season.
“It’s a mental, physical and emotional toll,” Redick said. “You have to be locked in on every possession. Not to say that good teams aren’t locked in 90% of the possessions in the regular season, but we’ve gotta do that over these next eight games. We’ve got to build our playoff mentality and it’s gotta be tonight.”
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