Los Angeles Lakers: Team Awards for the 2017-18 Season

SACRAMENTO, CA - FEBRUARY 24: The Los Angeles Lakers line up for the national anthem of the game against the Sacramento Kings on February 24, 2018 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images) /

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Sixth Man of the Year: Kyle Kuzma

2nd Place: Jordan Clarkson 3rd Place: Josh Hart

This was a hard award to pick because Kyle Kuzma started a lot of games towards the end of the season, but that was mostly due to injuries. For the better part of the season Kuzma came off the bench, so he gets the award.

Building off his stats listed above, Kuzma averaged a line of 16.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while coming off the bench in 40 of his 77 games played. Luke Walton preferred to have him come off the bench as Kuzma fits best as a stretch-4. The starting power forward spot was also occupied by Larry Nance Jr. initially, with it being transferred to Julius Randle later in the season.

Either way, Kuzma provided a scoring spark to the lineup whenever he came off the bench, averaging 2.1 made threes a game while making the defense respect his drive and his trademark running hook shot.

If Jordan Clarkson finished the season on the Lakers, he would probably get the award as he only started two of his 53 games for the Lakers this season while averaging 14.5 points per game in the purple-and-gold.

Josh Hart gets 3rd for averaging 7.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists while mostly coming off the bench. He was forced into the starting lineup when Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram went down with injuries.

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