Former Atlanta Hawks player Lou Williams was named the winner of the NBA’s Sixth Man Award, the league announced Monday. The Raptors guard averaged a career-high 15.5 points this season.
Williams played the past two seasons with the Hawks before being traded to the Raptors in the offseason. He helped the Raptors to a franchise-record 49 wins. He had a total of 502 points, including 78 first-place votes, from a panel of 130 sportswriters and broadcasters. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution does not participate in voting for postseason awards as a matter of newspaper policy.
The Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas (324 points) was second and the Clippers’ Jamal Crawford, a two-time winner and former Hawks player, was third. Hawks second-year guard Dennis Schroder received one third-place vote from a Bleacher Report writer.
Williams came off the bench in all 80 of his appearances and averaged 25.2 minutes. He led or tied for the team lead in scoring 18 times, second most in the league for a reserve. The 28-year-old and 10-year veteran also led the Raptors in free throw percentage (86.1) and made a career-high 152 3-pointers, nearly double his previous high of 88 set with the 76ers in 2010-11. On March 4, Williams set a Raptors record for points in a quarter with 21 in the fourth period against the Cavaliers.
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