Mavs’ Jalen Brunson Should Have Been NBA Sixth Man Finalist; Here’s Why

Dallas Mavericks point guard Jalen Brunson was snubbed from being a Sixth Man of the Year finalist, and we have the numbers to prove it.

Dalton Trigg | May 21, 2021

Mavs’ Jalen Brunson Should Have Been NBA Sixth Man Finalist; Here’s Why /

On Thursday, the NBA revealed the three finalists for all of its regular season awards, including MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year.

As our very own Bri Amaranthus wrote earlier today, Luka Doncic may have been snubbed from being an MVP finalist, but in this piece, we take a look at another Maverick who should have gotten more recognition from award voters — Jalen Brunson.

The three finalists for Sixth Man of the Year ended up being Jordan Clarkson, Joe Ingles and Derrick Rose, with worthy Dallas Maverick candidate Brunson being snubbed. You could technically throw Tim Hardaway Jr.’s name in there as well, but he started in 31 games this season, where Brunson only started in 12 games.

Brunson finished his third NBA season averaging 12.6 points, 3.5 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game while shooting 52.3% from the field and 40.5% from three. Brunson also had a 58.8 effective field goal percentage. He was an important part of the Mavs being able to fight their way back from being 14th in the West in January to being 5th by the season’s end.

There were only five players this NBA season who averaged at least 12 points, three rebounds and three assists per game while shooting at least 50% from the field and 40% from deep: Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Zach LaVine, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Brunson.

Even though he likely wouldn’t win Sixth Man of the Year, Brunson’s impressive season should’ve been enough to make him a finalist over Rose. Both players share nearly identical averages when it comes to points, rebounds and assists, but Brunson’s shooting efficiency is what should have separated him from Rose. Rose playing for the ever-popular and playoff-bound New York Knicks probably helped sway voters to put him in as a finalist.

Make no mistake, Rose has had a fine season for the Knicks this year, but we just believe the numbers indicate that Brunson had a better one.

It will be interesting to see where Brunson ended up in the voting order when those results are released after the season. For now, though, we’ll see if Brunson can carry over his regular-season numbers to his first ever NBA Playoffs appearance against the Clippers in Saturday's Game 1 and beyond.

CONTINUE READING: Dirk Nowitzki Dishes on NBA Title, Luka Doncic and Dallas Mavs Vs. Clippers in Playoffs

Published May 21, 2021

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.