The final 10 days of the NBA’s regular season are full of battles over playoff and lottery positioning. But this stretch of the calendar is also time for another end-of-season staple: lobbying for awards.

Players, coaches and teams are all making their best arguments for the league’s top individual honors: Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Coach of the Year, among others.

We covered the MVP race Wednesday, when we unveiled the third and final straw poll of the 2024-25 season, which saw Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander maintain his lead over Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic for what would be his first MVP. Jokic, meanwhile, is hoping to claim his fourth in five years, something only LeBron James and Bill Russell have done.

But what about those other three awards? All remain wide open with several viable contenders. And, in our weekly trip around The Association, we’re diving into the state of each race, and what sources around the league are saying about who should go home with the hardware.

Jump to an award race:
Defensive Player of the Year
Rookie of the Year
Coach of the Year

Who should win Defensive Player of the Year?

Bontemps: This was supposed to be the first of many Defensive Player of the Year awards for the San Antonio Spurs‘ Victor Wembanyama, last year’s runner-up behind fellow Frenchman Rudy Gobert. But when Wembanyama’s season was cut short in February after being diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder, the race was thrown up in the air.

Now, there are several players who could claim the award, including big men in Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley, Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. and Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, as well as perimeter players in Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort.

Windhorst: For Mobley and Jackson, winning the award could have a financial component, as well. If either wins Defensive Player of the Year or makes an All-NBA team, he will be eligible for a sizable raise. It would make Mobley’s rookie extension jump by tens of millions of dollars, and Jackson would be eligible for the supermax — which, in turn, would make it easier for the Grizzlies to get him inked to a long-term contract extension this summer. Jackson currently can become a free agent in 2026. By trading Marcus Smart, Memphis also created more salary cap flexibility to potentially re-negotiate and extend Jackson’s contract this summer if he doesn’t qualify for the supermax.

Setting the money aside, both are legitimate candidates. Jackson, who won the award in 2023, is arguably having the best season of his career, while Mobley unquestionably took the biggest leap of his four-year career.

“When we play Cleveland, our No. 1 priority is trying to move Mobley out of the paint because he gives us all kinds of problems,” an Eastern Conference GM said. “He’s a beast.”

“Evan’s impact is immeasurable,” another executive said. “He’s a driving force for their entire defense. That’s the definition of a defensive MVP.”

Bontemps: Green, the 2017 winner, has seen his candidacy boosted in recent weeks thanks, in part, to Golden State rocketing up the standings. (It also doesn’t hurt that Green is always ready to amplify his own case on his podcast and elsewhere in the media.)

Daniels, on the other hand, has been a revelation after arriving from the New Orleans Pelicans in the Dejounte Murray trade last summer. He’s on pace to have the most steals per game since John Stockton in 1988-89, and his ability to hunt passing lanes and wreak havoc has opposing teams making sure he’s on their game plans.

“If you have someone who has the ball in their hands, you want them to get away from [Daniels],” an East assistant coach said. “Playing defense in the NBA is so hard. Being able to guard, while not being able to put your hands on guys, is so impressive.”

Windhorst: And then there’s Dort, the Thunder stopper who takes on the toughest assignments on the perimeter for what has been, by far, the best defensive team in the league — OKC’s 105.9 defensive rating is the best since the 2019-20 Bucks — and one of the best in NBA history in comparison to its competition. And a chunk of that success directly correlates to Dort’s ability to give the top scorer on the other team fits on a nightly basis.

“Dort is like a shutdown cornerback,” a veteran scout said. “Like when Deion Sanders played he didn’t have huge stats because he took guys out of the game. Dort can take top scorers out of their game.”

“I’m not sure Lu would get recognized on the street by the average fan outside Oklahoma,” another scout said. “But trust me, I’ve seen him get in the head of some All-Stars.”

Who should win Rookie of the Year?

Windhorst: This hasn’t been an exciting class (to this point), and this award probably isn’t going to be a coronation. That said, it is a real race. In talking with coaches, scouts and executives, it seems in their opinions it’s a two-man choice between guard Stephon Castle, last year’s No. 4 pick by the San Antonio Spurs, and forward Zaccharie Risacher, the No. 1 pick by the Hawks.

Castle has been the betting favorite, especially with the extra playing time he has been afforded after starting point guard De’Aaron Fox went down for the season with a left pinkie injury. He has put up good counting stats — 17.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game since the All-Star break — though his shooting percentages have dipped, especially from 3-point range.

“This feels like [2014] when Michael Carter-Williams won Rookie of the Year, and people are defaulting to the guy with the highest counting stats,” one scout said. “Castle has had some impressive moments and he’s also got the best stats.”

Bontemps: Castle had an impressive All-Star weekend with Rising Stars MVP honors followed by a runner-up finish in the dunk contest. That helps his case and, as Brian pointed out, he has taken advantage of Fox and Wembanyama being out for the season by having the ball in his hands regularly and putting up big numbers.

Risacher, meanwhile, has quietly taken a leap for the Hawks over the past few months.

His numbers for the season — 12.4 points on 44.9% shooting and 34.5% from 3 — aren’t overwhelming. (His scoring average would be the fourth lowest by a Rookie of the Year in the shot clock era.) But when you look at Risacher’s performance since Jan. 1, those numbers become 13.7 points on 48.8% shooting and 39.2% from 3, all while playing competitive minutes for a team fighting for playoff positioning.

“Risacher has contributed to a team that’s going to make the postseason,” an executive said. “He should get credit for that.”

Windhorst:Washington Wizards big man Alex Sarr and Miami Heat center Kel’el Ware also got singled out for praise by scouts, execs and GMs I talked to. Another player mentioned, but one who isn’t going to be a true contender for the award, is Raptors second-round pick Jamal Shead.

“He won’t be in the conversation for Rookie or DPOY, but if you’re going to write about either, you should mention Shead from Toronto,” a scout said. “He’s a smothering on-ball defender. He can’t shoot much, but man can this guy move his feet.”

Bontemps: Like with Defensive Player of the Year, this award likely would have been wrapped up months ago if Philadelphia 76ers guard Jared McCain hadn’t suffered a season-ending meniscus tear in December after racing out to 15.3 points per game and 38.3% shooting from 3 (yet another reminder of how awful Philadelphia’s season has been).

An assistant coach also told me that if Houston Rockets guard Reed Sheppard was drafted by any other team, he would be a strong contender for the award. But thanks to elite depth, Sheppard has appeared in just 47 NBA games with multiple stints in the G League. The assistant pointed to Sheppard’s 25-point game against Oklahoma City a few weeks ago as proof of concept for what the No. 3 pick is capable of.

Who should win Coach of the Year?

Bontemps: Every season, there are at least five or six coaches who deserve this award. And it feels like we’ve been down a similar path this year. The fact that one of the top candidates (Cleveland Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson) replaced another (Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff) last summer only adds to the intrigue around this race.

Windhorst: Atkinson has overseen the extremely impressive Cavs season, leading them to a wire-to-wire lead atop the Eastern Conference. As a result, he has been the favorite for this honor for months. But within the league itself, there is unquestionably a groundswell for Bickerstaff, as the Pistons have seen an incredible turnaround from a 14-win season to locking up a top-6 playoff spot.

“I mean, how can you not give it to J.B.?” one general manager said. “That team lost 28 games in a row last year. … They’ve done a good job with the roster and Cade [Cunningham] has taken a leap, but J.B. deserves a lot of credit.”

Atkinson, though, has lifted Cleveland to another level, giving the Cavaliers a much higher ceiling than anyone thought possible heading into the season.

“Kenny has gotten great years out of basically everyone on their roster,” one coach said. “He’s maximized that roster with his strategy and his system. That’s the definition of great coaching.”

Bontemps: At the same time, there just so happens to be another guy, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault, who saw his team improve to 64-12 with a win over Bickerstaff and the Pistons in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night, with six games left to become the third team in NBA history to win 70 games. (Phil Jackson and Steve Kerr each won the award when the 1995-96 Bulls and 2015-16 Warriors, respectively, broke the 70-win mark.)

“How is no one considering giving it to Mark Daigneault?” one team president said. “They’re going to win 69 or 70 games.”