Where Shake Milton finished in Sixth Man of Year voting originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The first NBA award of 2021 has been given out.
Jordan Clarkson became the first Utah Jazz player to be named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year on Monday, and the way in which he received the honor was priceless.
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Teammate and 2021 Sixth Man award runner-up Joe Ingles surprised Clarkson live on TNT ahead of Game 2 between the Bucks and Heat. As host Ernie Johnson quizzed the duo about the award's history, Ingles unveiled the honor and Clarkson laughed in glee.
Clarkson's play off the bench was a big reason why the Jazz finished the regular season with the league's best record (52-20) en route to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. Clarkson started only once in 68 games but managed to record a career-high 18.4 points, along with 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 26.7 minutes per game.
A global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters awarded Clarkson with 65 first-place votes, 29 more than Ingles. Knicks guard Derrick Rose's resurgence since being traded from Detroit earned him a third-place finish.
Shake Milton received one second-place vote, placing him 13th out of 15 players to receive at least one vote. Former Sixer and current Pacer T.J. McConnell beat out Milton with one second-place vote and one third-place vote.
Here's a full look at the voting results:
Clarkson has thrived in his role off the bench for Quinn Snyder's offense predicated on playmaking guard play ever since arriving in a trade from Cleveland on Dec. 24, 2019. The four-year, $51 million investment Utah made in the guard last offseason certainly appears to be paying off.
In his first full season with the Jazz, Clarkson has scored 40 points off the bench twice, the only player in Utah franchise history to do so.
