NBA Awards 2019: Which Toronto Raptors received votes?

Author Photo
Masai Ujiri, Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam

Pascal Siakam was one of the biggest winners of the NBA Awards, taking home Most Improved Player.

While he was the only winner from Toronto, he wasn't the only one to receive some consideration. Here's where other members of the team finished in their respective categories.

Most Valuable Player

Kawhi Leonard finished ninth overall in MVP voting, the fourth time in his career he's finished among the top 10. Leonard finished second in 2015-16, third in 2016-17 and 10th in 2014-15.

He appeared on five of 100 ballots this time around with a pair of third-place votes and three fifth-place votes.

The media members to cast a vote for Leonard: Diego Martinez, Duane Rankin, Jalen Rose, Casey Stern and Eric Woodyard.

MVP Voting Results
Player 1st-Place Votes Total Points
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo 78 941
2. James Harden 23 776
3. Paul George 0 356
4. Nikola Jokic 0 212
5. Stephen Curry 0 175
6. Damian Lillard 0 69
7. Joel Embiid 0 49
8. Kevin Durant 0 13
9. Kawhi Leonard 0 13
10. Russell Westbrook 0 8

Defensive Player of the Year

On ability and reputation, there might not be a player more revered on the defensive end than Kawhi Leonard who is a two-time Defensive Player of the Year. While that was on full display during the playoffs, especially the Conference Finals when he switched onto Giannis Antetokounmpo for the second half of the series, he didn't quite have the same impact during the regular season.

Still, Leonard did get some votes as he finished tied for sixth with Draymond Green.

Casey Stern voted Leonard first while Mike Breen had him third on the ballot.

Most Improved Player

Pascal Siakam was the runaway winner, receiving 86 of 100 first-place votes. Of the 14 ballots in which he was not first, he was voted second on 13 of them.

The other players to receive first-place votes: D'Angelo Russell (12), De'Aaron Fox (1) and Derrick Rose (1).

Coach of the Year

If the Coach of the Year factored in the playoffs, there's no doubt that Nick Nurse would have been right in the mix. The first-year head coach made timely adjustments and never lost faith in his players despite numerous speed bumps along the way.

He did manage to snag a pair of third-place votes en route to tying Gregg Popovich and Quin Snyder for eighth-place in voting. 

The two media members to vote Nurse in on their ballots? Michael Grange and Jalen Rose.

Executive of the Year

Masai Ujiri's two biggest moves - trading for Kawhi Leonard prior to the season and trading for Marc Gasol at the trade deadline - played a significant role in transforming a smartly assembled roster into a championship-winning outfit.

Like Nurse, there's a good chance he would have finished higher had voting been conducted at the end of the playoffs rather than at the end of the regular season. As such, he ended up finishing fourth behind Jon Horst (Bucks), Tim Connelly (Nuggets) and Lawrence Frank (Clippers).

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Author(s)
Micah Adams Photo

Micah Adams is a Managing Editor at Sporting News.