NBA Sixth Man of the Year Odds & Favorites

San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson was named Sixth Man of the Year for the 2025-26 NBA season.

Johnson played all 82 games off the bench, becoming only the second NBA player in the last decade to do that. He averaged 13.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game for a San Antonio team that finished second in the Western Conference.

At BetMGM, Johnson was +6000 to win Sixth Man of the Year in the preseason.

Odds to Win NBA Sixth Man of the Year 2027

NBA odds for the 2027 Sixth Man of the Year market will be available later in the offseason. I’ve listed some notable names for next year’s race:

Who Will Win NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2027?

I’ll stick with a similar approach when evaluating Sixth Man of the Year candidates for the 2026–27 NBA season: target reserves on elite teams.

San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson’s 2025–26 campaign reinforced how heavily voters now weigh team success. Johnson was the top reserve on a 62-win Spurs team that finished second in the Western Conference, and he became the first player in franchise history to score 1,000 points off the bench in a single season.

Meanwhile, Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., who finished as the runner-up, actually posted stronger counting stats — averaging two more points and 3.3 more assists per game than Johnson. However, he played for a 43-win team that failed to advance past the Play-In Tournament. That gap in team success proved decisive, even prompting Bill Simmons to change his vote.

If you’ve followed this column in recent years, none of this should be surprising. Team success has become a defining factor in this market. It’s the same reasoning that led me to back Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard at 100/1 in 2024–25.

Pritchard went on to win the award, averaging 14.3 points per game for a 61-win Celtics team that secured the No. 2 seed in the East. He scored two fewer points per game than runner-up Malik Beasley, but Boston finished with 17 more wins than Detroit.

The award has clearly shifted away from simply recognizing the league’s top bench scorer. Voters now prioritize impact within a winning environment. Naz Reid captured the honor in 2023–24 on a 56-win Minnesota Timberwolves team, and Malcolm Brogdon did the same in 2022–23 for a 57-win Boston squad.

In fact, the last six Sixth Man of the Year winners have come from a team that won at least 52 games.

Simply put, focus on high-level reserves on elite teams. For 2026–27, the franchises worth monitoring include:

• Oklahoma City Thunder
• San Antonio Spurs
• Boston Celtics
• Denver Nuggets
• New York Knicks
• Detroit Pistons

That provides a solid foundation when odds are released later this summer. Still, if last season is any indication, this market is fluid and worth tracking throughout the year.

There were eight different favorites at various points in the 2025–26 race at BetMGM: Johnson, Jaquez, Reid, Pritchard, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Anthony Black, Ajay Mitchell, and Jerami Grant.

Johnson and Mitchell stood out as the most appealing options throughout the season due to their teams’ positioning in the Western Conference. That trend is likely to carry over, making those situations worth revisiting.

Prediction: Ajay Mitchell

NBA Sixth Man of the Year Voting, 2025-26

List of Sixth Man of the Year Winners

Who has the Most Sixth Man of the Year Awards in NBA History?

Jamal Crawford and Lou Williams hold the record for most Sixth Man of the Year awards in NBA history with three apiece.

• Jamal Crawford (2010, 2014, 2016)
• Lou Williams (2015, 2018, 2019)

Who Won NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2026?

San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award during the 2025-26 season. He was an NBA betting long shot (+6000) at BetMGM in the preseason.