It’s not at all surprising that Malik Beasley did not win the NBA 6th Man of the Year award even though he should have.
There is no quantifiable measure by which Payton Pritchard is a better player than Beasley, nor one to justify him winning this award.
Just look at the numbers. Beasley scored more points, made more 3-pointers, had more steals and played far more important role on his team than Pritchard did. Pritchard didn’t even make the most 3-point shots on his own team, while Beasley finished 2nd in the entire NBA.
Left won 6MOTY. Right didn't.
— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 22, 2025
1,144 points 1,336 points
70 steals 73 steals
255 threes 319 threes pic.twitter.com/49gbDsUn6q
Even some diehard Celtics fans agree that Beasley should have won the award, but like I said, I am not surprised, as the 6th Man Award generally goes to a bench player on one of the top 2-3 teams and the Pistons were not in that tier.
I also won’t be surprised when Cade Cunningham doesn’t win Most Improved Player (he probably shouldn’t since he was pretty good last year too) and JB Bickerstaff does not win Coach of the Year, though he absolutely should.
Find me the person who thought the 14-win Pistons would make the playoffs this year after hiring the recently fired Bickerstaff. The team had one of the biggest turnarounds in NBA history, but his replacement in Cleveland, Kenny Atkinson, is likely to win the award.
Do I think Beasley and Bickerstaff are getting robbed of awards they should win? Yes. Do I care? Nope.
It’s Detroit vs. Everybody, just the way the Pistons like it
No team in the NBA this season has leaned more into the “nobody believes in us but us” angle more than the Detroit Pistons.
None of the experts picked them to win even 30 games (I went a bit over 30) and none of them picked the Pistons to upset the Knicks in the first round, though we will have to wait to see about that one.
No one cared when the Pistons acquired Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Malik Beasley in the offseason (in fact, most “experts” scorned these additions) and no one even noticed when they traded for Dennis Schroder at the deadline, a move that immediately paid off and continues to in the playoffs.
Even when the Pistons win, national media spends more time talking about the other team, something they’ve been used to all season. And that’s fine, as the Pistons thrive on being the underdog, by being underestimated and overlooked.
It’s just a little more fuel for the fire and let’s hope Malik Beasley lets them know next game against the Knicks.