Detroit — The NBA announced on Tuesday that Boston Celtics’ Payton Pritchard won the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award for the 2024-25 season.
Pritchard beat out Detroit Pistons’ Malik Beasley, who finished second in voting. Beasley was one of three finalists for the yearly award, joining Ty Jerome of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Pritchard helped the Celtics finish 61-21, averaging 14.3 points on 47.2% shooting from the field and 40.7% from 3-point range.
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With 64 of 82 games played off the bench, Beasley averaged the second-most points for a reserve with a scoring average of 16.3 points on 41.6% shooting from deep. Beasley was also one of three players who finished the regular season with at least 300 3-pointers made.
He finished second to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards, who made 320 3-point field goals. Beasley set a franchise record for the Pistons with 319 triples in a single season. Saddiq Bey held Detroit’s previous record of 211, which was set in 2022.
Beasley’s best performance of the season came during the Pistons’ 125-112 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Feb. 7. With Cade Cunningham out due to an injury, he took the helm as Detroit’s top scorer with a career-best of 36 points on 9-of-19 shooting from behind the arc.
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