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Recent NBA Announcement Disappoints Pistons' Malik Beasley Amid Playoffs

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Nathaniel Holloway | Last updated Apr 22, 2025 7:22 PM ET

The Detroit Pistons are coming off a key playoff victory in Game 2 of their first round series against the New York Knicks.

With the victory, the Pistons snapped a 15-game postseason losing streak that dated back 17 seasons and also held the longest postseason losing streak in NBA history.

Now with the series tied 1-1 heading back to Detroit, the Pistons will look to take advantage of having home-court advantage during Game 3 on Thursday.

While the Pistons are preparing for Thursday’s Game 3 matchup against the Knicks, one of their players received some disappointing news on Tuesday after a major announcement by the NBA.

On Tuesday, the NBA announced the winner of the 2024-25 Kia Sixth Man of the Year award, which was given to Payton Pritchard of the Boston Celtics.

Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard has won the 2024-25 NBA Sixth Man of the Year award.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 22, 2025

Of course, Pistons guard Malik Beasley was also a finalist for the award and unfortunately for him, he ended up second in voting for the award.

Top 5 in Sixth Man voting:

1) Payton Pritchard (BOS)
2) Malik Beasley (DET)
3) Ty Jerome (CLE)
4) De’Andre Hunter (ATL/CLE)
5) Naz Reid (MIN) https://t.co/yz0vrUUGUZ
— Brett Siegel (@BrettSiegelNBA) April 22, 2025

While it was a great season for Pritchard, who played a key role off the bench for the Eastern Conference No. 2 seed Celtics, Beasley also had a major impact on the Pistons completely turning their franchise around this season.

The 28-year-old guard averaged 16.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game this season while shooting 43.0% from the field and 41.6% from three-point range.

Beasley also finished second in the NBA in made three-point shots this season with 319, just one behind the leader Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves who knocked down 320 threes.

For Pritchard, he averaged 14.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 47.2% from the field and 40.7% from three-point range.

While most of Beasley’s numbers this season were better than Pritchard’s, it is clear that voters believed that Pritchard had more of an impact for his team this season, which will likely leave Pistons fans upset about their sixth man being snubbed for the award.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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