NEW YORK (AP) — Naz Reid was having a productive season as a reserve when the Minnesota Timberwolves needed him in the starting lineup while playing without All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns.
Reid was excellent in that role, too, helping the Timberwolves to the second-best season in franchise history.
Reid was rewarded with the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year on Wednesday, edging Sacramento's Malik Monk in a close vote to become the third undrafted player to win the award for the league's best reserve.
Reid averaged career highs of 13.5 points and 5.2 rebounds in 81 games. The forward-center came off the bench 67 times, getting a feel for the game in the early minutes before getting his chance to impact it.
“I kind of joke around with my teammates a little bit, but it’s kind of a saying where I feel like we have to keep the momentum going, anyway,” Reid said in an interview on TNT after the award was announced. “Either we got to have the mentality to come back in the game, or to push the lead forward.”
The 6-foot-9 Reid helped the Timberwolves do that plenty of times en route to a 56-26 record to earn the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. They have a 2-0 lead over the Phoenix Suns in their first-round series.
Towns was hurt in March and missed the next 18 games. Yet the Wolves hardly slowed down, going 10-3 from March 16 to April 10 while Reid started 12 of the 13 games. He averaged 17.1 points on 45.4% shooting during that span.
Reid got 45 first-place votes to 43 for Monk from a panel of 99 reporters and broadcasters who cover the league. Both players had 39 second-place votes and 10 third-place votes, giving Reid a total of 352 points to Monk's 342.
Milwaukee's Bobby Portis Jr. finished third. Norman Powell of the Clippers was fourth and Atlanta's Bogdan Bogdanovic rounded out the top five.
Reid was undrafted out of LSU in 2019, originally joining the Timberwolves with a two-way contract that summer. The fan favorite played his way into a multiyear contract extension last summer, then rewarded the Wolves this season with 843 points off the bench, second-most in franchise history.
He twice reached 30 points and had 20 or more 14 times, both career bests, and said the award was special for the fans who have supported him since the beginning of his career.
“They’ve seen me work from Day 1. Since the moment I got here I changed my body, I changed my mentality, I changed the direction I wanted to go in life,” Reid said. “I think they kind of deserve that and I think just being with me, that’s super special.”
Reid joined John Starks (1996-97) and Darrell Armstrong (1999) as undrafted players to win the Sixth Man award, named for Celtics Hall of Famer John Havlicek.
The Clutch Player will be awarded on Thursday (Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan or Gilgeous-Alexander); and Coach of the Year on Sunday (Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault, Minnesota’s Chris Finch or Orlando’s Jamahl Mosley).
All those announcements will be made on TNT’s pregame shows.
Philadelphia's Tyrese Maxey won the Most Improved Player award Tuesday. The NBA hasn't yet released the schedule for the other awards.
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Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid (11) points after making a 3-point shot during the first half of Game 1 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Phoenix Suns, Saturday, April 20, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid (11) works around Atlanta Hawks forward Mouhamed Gueye during the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game Friday, April 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid, right, drives against Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray during the second half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, April 10, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
LONDON (AP) — Sadiq Khan, the Labour Party's mayor of London, appeared Saturday to be romping to victory as results from the capital pour in.
Results from nine of the 14 electoral districts show Khan, chasing a record third straight term at City Hall, on 43.5% and more than 10 percentage points ahead of his main challenger, the Conservative Party's Susan Hall.
There had been frenzied speculation on Friday that the result would be closer than previously thought, but Khan's lead so far shows a swing from Conservative to Labour.
Khan, who replaced Boris Johnson as London mayor in 2016, has been an increasingly divisive figure in the past few years.
While his supporters say he has multiple achievements to his name, such as expanding housebuilding, free school meals for young children, keeping transport costs in check and generally backing London’s minority groups, his critics say he has overseen a crime surge, been anti-car and has unnecessarily allowed pro-Palestinian marches to become a regular feature at weekends.
A victory for Khan would be another positive sign for the U.K.'s main opposition party. If Thursday's local election results were repeated in a looming national vote, Labour would remove the Conservatives from power for the first time since 2010.
“Sadiq Khan was absolutely the right candidate," said Labour leader Keir Starmer. "He has got two terms of delivery behind him and I am confident that he has got another term of delivery in front of him.”
The incumbent Labour mayors in Liverpool, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire were also reelected Saturday, a day after the party seized control of councils across England that it hasn’t held for decades. Labour was also successful in a special election for a seat in Parliament, that if translated to a general election would lead to one of the Conservatives' biggest-ever defeats.
Though the Conservatives suffered a drubbing in the local elections, it looks as though Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will not face a further rebellion among his ranks.
Sunak was able to breathe a sigh of relief when the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley in the northeast of England was reelected, albeit with a depressed share of the vote. Sunak will be hoping that Andy Street will also hold on as the Conservative mayor in the West Midlands, especially in the city of Birmingham.
One negative for Labour was that its vote in strongly Muslim areas in England was depressed by opposition to the party leadership’s strongly pro-Israel stance over the war in Gaza.
Starmer conceded that the party has had issues with Muslim voters, but the results in general were positive for the man who is favorite to become prime minister at the next general election.
Sunak has the power to decide on the date of the next election, and has indicated that it will be in the second half of 2024. Starmer urged him not to wait.
“We're fed up with your division, with your chaos, with your failure,” he said Saturday. “If you leave your country in a worse state than when you found it, 14 years later, you do not deserve to be in government a moment longer.”
Thursday’s elections in large parts of England were important in themselves, with voters deciding on who runs many aspects of their daily lives, such as garbage collection, road maintenance and local crime prevention. But with a national election looming, they are being viewed through a national prism.
John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said the results show that Sunak has not helped the Conservative brand following the damage accrued by the actions of his predecessors, Boris Johnson and then Liz Truss.
“That in a sense is the big takeaway," he told BBC radio.
Sunak became prime minister in October 2022, after Truss's short-lived tenure. She left office after 49 days following a budget of unfunded tax cuts that roiled financial markets and sent borrowing costs for homeowners surging.
Her chaotic — and traumatic — leadership compounded the Conservatives’ difficulties following the circus surrounding her predecessor Johnson, who was forced to quit after being adjudged to have lied to Parliament over coronavirus lockdown breaches at his offices in Downing Street.
By midafternoon Saturday, with most of the 2,661 seats up for grabs in the local elections counted, the Conservatives were down by more than 496 while Labour was up 174. Other parties, such as the centrist Liberal Democrats and the Greens, also made gains. Reform U.K., which is trying to usurp the Conservatives from the right, also had some successes, notably in the special parliamentary election in Blackpool South, where it was less than 200 votes from grabbing second place.
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak smiles as he inspects the Passing Out Parade of the Parachute Regiment recruits during his visit to the Helles Barracks at the Catterick Garrison, a military base in North Yorkshire, Britain, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Molly Darlington/Pool photo via AP)
Labour candidate Chris Webb celebrates after winning the Blackpool South by-election following the count at Blackpool Sports Centre in Blackpool, Britain, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
FILE - A woman pushes a buggy as she arrives to vote at a polling station in London, Thursday, May 2, 2024. Britain's governing Conservative Party is suffering heavy losses as local election results pour in Friday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of a U.K. general election in which the main opposition Labour Party appears increasingly likely to return to power after 14 years. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
Counting begins at the Blackpool South by-election at Blackpool Sports Centre in Blackpool, England, Thursday, May 2, 2024. The by-election was triggered after the resignation of Scott Benton. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)
A woman holds an umbrella as she walks along the banks of the River Thames opposite the Houses of Parliament in London, Friday, May 3, 2024. Britain's governing Conservative Party is suffering heavy losses as local election results pour in Friday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of a U.K. general election in which the main opposition Labour Party appears increasingly likely to return to power after 14 years. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Conservative party candidate Lord Ben Houchen, left, with Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak following his re-election as Tees Valley Mayor in Teesside, England, Friday May 3, 2024. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)
Britain's Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer, center, and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, celebrate with David Skaith at Northallerton Town Football Club, North Yorkshire, after winning the York and North Yorkshire mayoral election, Friday May 3, 2024. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks as he takes part in broadcasting a clip during his visit to the Helles Barracks at the Catterick Garrison, a military base in North Yorkshire, Britain, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Molly Darlington/Pool photo via AP)
