Out of all the ups and down that a fourth straight mediocre play-in season brought to the Miami Heat, the play of Jaime Jaquez Jr. was one of the highlights. And he may have just been snubbed from a well deserved award.
Jaquez was named a finalist for the NBA’s Kia Sixth Man of the Year award, along with San Antonio Spurs’ Keldon Johnson and Denver Nuggets’ wing Tim Hardaway Jr. On Wednesday, Johnson was named the winner— with Jaquez coming up short as the runner up. Jaquez totaled 331 points in the overall voting, including 34 first place votes and 51 second place votes. Johnson received 404 voting points, with 63 first place votes to ultimately give him the edge.
Oddly enough, Jaquez was statistically a far better sixth man all season long. However, San Antonio finished the season as a top-two seed in a stacked Western Conference. The Heat on the other hand, finished 10th and failed to make it out of the play-in for the first time out of their four consecutive appearances in the tournament.
That notion only justifies that winning indeed trumps the numbers when it comes to recognition for these accolades. And yet another disappointing inconsistent year for the Heat did not help Jaquez’s case here.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. averaged career-high’s in nearly every statistical category this season.
Jaquez averaged 15.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.7 assists on an uber efficient 51% shooting overall and 32% from 3-point range in 75 games played for Miami during this 2025-26 campaign. All of those figures are good for career-high’s in his third year in the league.
There was some concern in a rough sophomore year last season, where he averaged just 8.6 points— down from his 12 points per game as a standout rookie in 2023-24.
Despite coming up short on securing this Sixth Man hardware, this was still a resilient bounce back year for the Heat forward. And he will assuredly take another swing at the award over the next few years as he continues to improve. The opportunity and minutes are there for Jaquez, who has earned coach Erik Spoelstra’s trust over the years. His polished offensive game, footwork and rim pressure has made him a key piece to Miami’s depth from the start.
Jaquez led all reserves this year in total points/points per game, assists/assists per game, field goals made and 20+ point games. Additionally, he became the only player to have 1000+ points, 300+ rebounds, 300+ assists and 50+ 3PM off the bench in NBA history.
Clearly, all the stats were in Jaquez’s favor. But it still wasn’t enough; which puts even more pressure on this Heat front office to make the necessary acquisitions this summer to put the team in a better position to succeed— both for individual players and in the win column.
Regardless of the Heat’s shaky season, do you think Jaquez was robbed from Sixth Man of the Year? Let us know in the comments!
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- Did another mediocre Heat season hold Jaime Jaquez Jr. back from earning Sixth Man of the Year?
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- Bam Adebayo reveals that LaMelo Ball didn’t apologize about tripping incident
- Bam Adebayo receives one vote for coveted award
Wow! CJ got Knicks #
Voters: Heat who? Winners should be in playoffs not in play-in.
Hahahahuhuhuhu!! Poor JJJ. Got snubbed coz of the insignificance of his own team.
nyk getting outathleticized 48 36
Keldon Johnson was the favorite and totally deserved the award. He had a different role than Jaquez but was more efficient, scoring 2.2 points less but on 2.5 fewer FGA per game. His EFG was 58% vs vs 54% for Jaquez. He also had a good narrative as a longtime Spur and former starter who averaged >20 ppg and bought into a reduced role on a top team in the league.
Listening to the Heat exit interviews, Jaquez said this was the year he showed he belonged in the NBA. 6MOTY would have been nice but he proved he belonged regardless of awards. Interested to see how he builds on this season next year.
Yep
I think Johnson was rewarded for being on a good team. Jaime was punished for being on a bad one
He was literally punished for the sins of the godfather.
Lets be exact. He was a part of an average team.
This should an individual award, but it really isn’t. As MVP. That’s reality, and yes, he lost this award because he played in an average team.
Also why bam hasn’t received dpoy recognition atleast, as evident with the one (probably heat journalist) vote. Also a lot of talking heads (even the heat legend wade) are tired of the FO schtick as are most reasonable fans should be.
It’s time, time for a redo overhaul whatever you wanna call it. Tbf it’s been time as early as last year when the team could had a chance at vj Flagg Bailey or Harper but idiotically thought it would be great if we make the playoffs so our young players can get po experience. Or the we’re to good to tank and scoff at teams that do.
Seen a podcast where the dude said Riley should try to get scoot from the blazers after that game vs spurs. I’m not mad at the idea a Davion on steroids. Has he been lighting the bball world on fire? No but he’s a young talented player who could windup putting it together on another team as we’ve seen players do before. Also thought he played well in game 2 vs SA, has a nice frame long wingspan and actually plays defense
its like the heisman in college football very rarely does the award go to a miam heat like team.jjj got fkd for being on a mediocre team.keldon johnson is keshad johson with pt on a good team