Who is the Sixth Man of the Year 2022 in the NBA?

The NBA has honored Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro as this season’s Sixth Man of the Year for his contributions to the team in a reserve role. It’s the first time for Herro to win the award, and he also becomes the first player from the Heat to receive the honor.

Landslide win for Herro

The 22-year-old received 96 out of a total of 100 first-place votes from an international panel of judges composed of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. A first-place vote garners five points, a second-place vote gets three, while a third-place vote awards one. Herro tallied a total of 488 points.

He bested forward Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers who came in second with 214 points (three first-place votes), and forward Cam Johnson of the Phoenix Suns who finished in third place with 128 points (one first-place vote).

Herro’s impressive numbers off the bench

To qualify for the Sixth Man of the Year Award, a player needs to have played off the bench in more games than he did as a starter. The Kentucky alum was a reserve player in 56 of the games he participated in, and averaged 20.7 points, five rebounds, and four assists per game overall.

He delivered an average of 20.8 points per game off the bench, the highest for any player in a reserve role. Herro becomes only the fifth NBA player to score an average of at least 20 points as a reserve, while playing a minimum of 50 games as a subsititute.

He joins the ranks of Thurl Bailey (1987-88), Eddie Johnson (1988-89), Ricky Pierce (1989-90, 1990-91), and Lou Williams (2017-18, 2018-19).