The Sixth Man of the Year award has garnered quite the traction in recent times. This season’s finalists include Tim Hardaway Jr. (Denver Nuggets), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Miami Heat), and Keldon Johnson (San Antonio Spurs).
However, drama unfolded after NBA analyst Bill Simmons made a bombshell reveal that he switched his 6MoY vote from Jaquez Jr to Johnson. This saw an uproar from the NBA world on social media.
NBA World Tears Into Bill Simmons for Admitting Changing His 6MOY Vote from Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Speaking on the latest episode of his ‘The Bill Simmons Podcast‘, the analyst revealed changing his vote from Heat wing Jaime Jaquez Jr. “The play in did change my 6MOY vote. I had Jaquez over Keldon Johnson, but then Miami lost on Wednesday, and I was just like, ‘I’m going to have the 6MOY on a team that couldn’t get to the last round of the play-in?'”
“I switched it,” he said. “That’s the league’s fault. They should’ve made us vote before the play-in game.” This garnered immense criticism from the NBA world. Podcaster Nekias Duncan took to X (formerly Twitter), saying. “I’m gonna blow a gasket.”
i’m gonna blow a gasket. https://t.co/t7HcGIzEpE
— Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) April 20, 2026
The lambasting continued: “It is LITERALLY A REGULAR SEASON AWARD, AND YOU KNOW IT IS A REGULAR SEASON AWARD, and you change your vote BASED ON A GAME THAT LITERALLY DOES NOT COUNT. As someone who would’ve voted Keldon if I had a ballot, this logic absolutely REEKS.”
it is LITERALLY A REGULAR SEASON AWARD AND YOU KNOW IT IS A REGULAR SEASON AWARD and you change your vote BASED ON A GAME THAT LITERALLY DOES NOT COUNT.
As someone that would’ve voted Keldon if I had a ballot, this logic absolutely REEKS.
— Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) April 20, 2026
Analyst Álvaro Martín seconded, “Without debating the merits of Bill Simmons’s opinion, he is an example of why journalists should have absolutely nothing to do with the Awards for Values of the Year. A nurse and a cardiologist each rack up 10,000 hours operating. Which one do you want operating on your heart?” Another Heat podcaster tweeted, “When did a regular-season award tie into a play-in game?”
“Votes should be concluded as soon as the playoffs start, makes no sense to judge a reg szn award based on the play-in, which is supposed to be a part of the “playoffs,” wrote prominent fan account DREW. Pop culture and hoops fan account, Kal-El Atreides, added, “I……….would not have admitted this publicly.”
On the performance front, Jaquez averaged 15.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in 75 games this season. The Heat were eliminated in the play-in. Johnson is part of a stern Spurs side averaging 13.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 82 appearances. Hardaway Jr. played 80 games for the Nuggets this season, averaging 13.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game. The Spurs and the Nuggets are both in the playoffs.
The end-of-season awards have seen marquee names as voters, but Simmons’ take surely has not gone down well with those in the league circuit. With the Sixth Man of the Year, an award that is presented based on the player’s regular-season metrics, Jaquez Jr. being overlooked does feel like a valid reason for analysts and fans to be miffed.
