Joel Embiid, Jaren Jackson Jr. headline Yardbarker NBA awards predictions

As the NBA prepares for a two-month flurry of playoff games, we are taking advantage of the one-day lull to predict who wins the big NBA awards. Including the newly-renamed Michael Jordan MVP trophy.

MVP: Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers

The early returns from voters — 10 out of 100 voters have revealed their MVP selection — show Embiid with an early lead. The Sixers center won his second straight scoring title this season, finishing with 33.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. Embiid ranked eighth in the league rebounds, seventh in blocks (1.7 per game) and second in made free throws in the league. Advanced stats also love Embiid, as he finished sixth in offensive box plus/minus and fifth in defensive box plus/minus.

Advanced statistics really love Nikola Jokic, but the Nuggets' center essentially withdrew from the race down the stretch, with Denver having locked in the top seed in the Western Conference. The reigning two-time MVP sat out five of the last seven games, and took only 18 shots in the final two weeks of the season. Perhaps he simply wanted to prepare for the playoffs, where Jokic and the Nuggets have won just one series in the last two years.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is the final candidate, putting up monster numbers for the team with the league's best record. But like Jokic, he sat out a lot preparing for the playoffs, and finished having played only 63 games. Meanwhile, Embiid's closing argument for MVP was a 52-point performance against the Boston Celtics. The Process is the MVP.

Defensive Player of the Year: Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis Grizzlies

Jaren Jackson Jr. led the league in blocks for a second straight year, upping his rejections to three per game. He's the centerpiece of the Grizzlies defense, which finished No. 2 in defensive rating. Despite the NBA having to debunk an online conspiracy theory about Jackson getting favorable block statistics at home, he's the definite favorite to take home the Hakeem Olajuwon trophy.

Jackson missed 19 games, but that includes the first 14 games of the season recovering from a summer injury. Three blocks and a steal per game, denying shooters at the rim (a league-leading 46.8%) and covering for the Grizzlies' injury-decimated frontcourt means Jackson has earned this award.

Honorable mention: Milwaukee's Brook Lopez (2.5 blocks per game), Miami's Bam Adebayo, Golden State's Draymond Green

Coach of the Year: Mike Brown, Sacramento Kings

Look, if you lead the Sacramento Kings to the three seed after they hadn't made the playoffs in 17 years, you win Coach of the Year. It's the law.

This award usually goes to either one of the league's best teams, or the team that made the most dramatic turnaround. This year, the Kings and Brown, who won Coach of the Year in 2009 with Cleveland, are both.

Honorable mention: Joe Mazzulla took over under difficult circumstances and led the Boston Celtics to 57 wins. Mark Daigneault took the Oklahoma City Thunder to the play-in even without No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren, or really any conventional big man at all. And Michael Malone and Mike Budenholzer led the Nuggets and Bucks to top seeds.

Rookie of the Year: Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic

Banchero was the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft, and he played like it in his rookie season. The Magic forward led all rookies with 20 points per game and grabbed 6.9 rebounds. He also improved as the season went on, upping his scoring and three-point shooting (35.3%) after the All-Star break.

Honorable mention: Jalen Williams scored 14.1 points and played lockdown perimeter defense for the Thunder, grabbing 1.4 steals per game. And Walker Kessler was fourth in the league in blocks for Utah with 173, rejecting 78 more shots than the center he was traded for, Rudy Gobert.

Sixth Man of the Year: Immanuel Quickley, New York Knicks

Quickley averaged 14.9 points as the Knicks' first guard off the bench and their perimeter defensive anchor. He held opponents to 44% shooting against him, and only 33.6% from three-point range. Ironically, Quickley's Sixth Man chances got a big boost from games where he started, including a 38-point effort against Boston, a 40-point game against Houston and a 39-point effort against Indiana. Quickley is also an incredible video bomber.

Honorable mention: Malcom Brogdon scored 14.9 points and shot 44.4% from three-point range for the Boston Celtics. Bobby Portis had an excellent season off the bench for Milwaukee (14.1 points, 9.6 rebounds, 49.6% shooting) as well, but Quickley seems to have all the momentum for this award.

Most Improved Player: Lauri Markkanen, Utah Jazz

Markkanen went from a near-bust in Chicago to starting the All-Star Game two years later in Utah. "The Finnisher" averaged 25.6 points on stellar shooting. He made 49.9% of his shots from the floor, 39.1% from deep and 87.5%  from the line — Dirk-like numbers. He also became the first NBA player with 100 dunks and 200 threes in a season.

Honorable mention: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.4 points and greatly improved his outside shooting this season. The problem is, he was already really good. Jalen Brunson signed a huge deal in New York that now looks like a huge bargain after he scored 24 points and made 41.4% of his threes while emerging as a team leader. Mikal Bridges showed off his scoring prowess in Brooklyn, but like SGA, he was already good, making the All-Defensive first team last year.

Clutch Player of the Year: De'Aaron Fox, Sacramento Kings

Fox is an easy choice for the inaugural Jerry West trophy, because he led the league in nearly every clutch time stat.

He made 52.9% of his shots in the clutch while Sacramento went 25-19 in clutch games. No one has been as personally responsible for lighting the beam this year than Fox.

Honorable mention: Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat (50.5% in the clutch), DeMar DeRozan (second in clutch points), and Luka Doncic, for his uncanny ability to corral intentional missed free throws.