The NBA has announced three finalists for seven different awards set to recognize some of the top performers from the 2022-23 regular season: MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Clutch Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man of the Year and Coach of the Year. The winners will be announced in the coming weeks (specific dates and times are yet to be provided by the league for each announcement).
In the meantime, we've got our CBS Sports staff predictions for these seven awards plus Executive of the Year. There are a lot of tight calls, but ultimately we were unanimous in our picks for Clutch Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player and Coach of the Year. Notably, each of the three MVP candidates got at least two first-place votes from our staff.
See what you think below, and go easy in our Twitter mentions.
| Award |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most Valuable Player | Nikola Jokic | Nikola Jokic | Joel Embiid | Giannis Antetokounmpo | Giannis Antetokounmpo | Giannis Antetokounmpo | Joel Embiid | Joel Embiid |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Jaren Jackson Jr. | Jaren Jackson Jr. | Brook Lopez | Brook Lopez | Evan Mobley | Jaren Jackson Jr. | Jaren Jackson Jr. | Jaren Jackson Jr. |
| Rookie of the Year | Paolo Banchero | Paolo Banchero | Paolo Banchero | Paolo Banchero | Paolo Banchero | Paolo Banchero | Paolo Banchero | Paolo Banchero |
| Sixth Man of the Year | Immanuel Quickley | Immanuel Quickley | Malcolm Brogdon | Malcolm Brogdon | Immanuel Quickley | Immanuel Quickley | Malcolm Brogdon | Malcolm Brogdon |
| Most Improved Player | Lauri Markkanen | Lauri Markkanen | Lauri Markkanen | Lauri Markkanen | Lauri Markkanen | Lauri Markkanen | Lauri Markkanen | Lauri Markkanen |
| Clutch Player of the Year | De'Aaron Fox | De'Aaron Fox | De'Aaron Fox | De'Aaron Fox | De'Aaron Fox | De'Aaron Fox | De'Aaron Fox | De'Aaron Fox |
So that's three MVP votes apiece for Embiid and Antetokounmpo, and another two for Jokic. This season's MVP voting could be historically close, though Embiid currently has a fairly comfortable lead through publicly available voting data.
Some of the picks were easier. Fox has seemed destined to win the inaugural Clutch Player of the Year for a while, and he picked up where he left off in Game 1 of Kings-Warriors over the weekend. Markkanen was an All-Star for the first time and posted 25.6 points per game with the Jazz after posting under 15.0 PPG in each of the previous three seasons.
Another no-brainer? Sacramento's Mike Brown for Coach of the Year. Brown led the Kings to the No. 3 seed in the West and the franchise's first playoff appearance in 17 years.
Below are the Coach and Executive of the Year picks from our staff.
| Expert | Coach of the Year | Executive of the Year |
|---|---|---|
Brad Botkin | Mike Brown, Kings | Monte McNair, Kings |
James Herbert | Mike Brown, Kings | Sam Presti, Thunder |
Michael Kaskey-Blomain | Mike Brown, Kings | Monte McNair, Kings |
Jack Maloney | Mike Brown, Kings | Danny Ainge, Jazz |
Sam Quinn | Mike Brown, Kings | Koby Altman, Cavaliers |
Bill Reiter | Mike Brown, Kings | Koby Altman, Cavaliers |
Colin Ward-Henninger | Mike Brown, Kings | Monte McNair, Kings |
| Jasmyn Wimbish | Mike Brown, Kings | Monte McNair, Kings |
