2025-26 NBA Awards for Players From Schools in West

SuperWest Most Improved Player of the Year

Dillon Brooks (Phoenix Suns, Oregon)

Dillon Brooks was on his way to becoming a secondary star for the Memphis Grizzlies before he spent much of the 2022-23 season feuding with seasoned veterans such as Draymond Green and LeBron James.

That led Green to say, “The dynasty starts after you, not with you,” when asked about Brooks. The Grizzlies finally had enough of Brooks’ antics and traded him to the Rockets.

Brooks spent a couple of seasons as a solid starter for Houston, but it seemed like his potential as a scorer and secondary option would never be realized.

So, when he was traded to Phoenix as part of the Kevin Durant to Houston trade, nobody really cared.

Most NBA fans expected the Suns to be one of the worst teams in the league, but Brooks proved everyone wrong in his age-30 season.

Brooks put up 20.2 points a night as the team’s second option behind Devin Booker, and the Suns had an unexpected 45-win season in a stacked Western Conference.

Those stats weren’t empty calories, either, as the Suns went 13-13 without Brooks, an absence mostly due to an untimely DUI arrest.

Even with the arrest, he hasn’t been nearly as controversial as he was in his final year with the Grizzlies, and he’ll seek a big payday soon, as his contract will expire after the 2026-27 season.

Also, the Grizzlies completely fell apart and never became a “dynasty”, and one could assume that Brooks had been praying for their downfall for the past few years.

SuperWest Defensive Player of the Year

Derrick White (Boston Celtics, Colorado)

Typically, when a two-way player gets older and realizes that they can’t keep up playing at a high level on both ends of the floor, they’ll choose to focus on the offensive side of the ball, while “coasting” on the defensive end.

The exact opposite of this has happened for Derrick White.

He just had the worst season of his career shooting the ball (52.9 true shooting percentage and 39.4% field goal percentage), but he is still an absolute menace on the defensive end.

White averaged 1.1 steals and 1.3 blocks per game this season, becoming only the third guard in the 21st century to record more than 95 blocks in a season (joining 2000-01 Tracy McGrady and 2008-09 Dwyane Wade).

White’s advanced stats are also great. He is one of two players under 6’5 with a defensive EPM (per Dunks&Threes) over +2.0 (+2.4), while CraftedNBA has his +2.6 defensive plus/minus in the 98th percentile of all players.

SuperWest Rookie of the Year

Cedric Coward (Memphis Grizzlies, Washington State)

For the second year in a row, a Memphis Grizzlies player who is a Washington State alum wins my Ex-SuperWest Rookie of the Year award.

As mentioned previously, the Grizzlies are imploding, but at least they have Cedric Coward and Jaylen Wells for the foreseeable future.

Coward started the season on the bench, but quickly played his way into the starting lineup following multiple 20-point games.

He was easily one of the most valuable players on the team, as he averaged an impressive +10.1 Plus/Minus Net Per 100 Possessions.

Coward’s first major road bump came in the form of knee and back injuries, which kept him sidelined after the All-Star break.

However, he looked solid once he returned and finished the season strong once the Grizzlies’ fate had been sealed.

Coward put up 15.4 points in just 24.4 minutes per game while shooting 49.6% from the floor in his last 10 games of the year, and his 27-point season finale showed that he can become a star scorer one day.

The only major flaw in his game is his three-point shooting (33.8% on 4.4 attempts per game), and if he can improve that, the sky will be the limit for him.

SuperWest Sixth Man of the Year

Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Miami Heat, UCLA)

From 2025’s Ex-SuperWest Biggest Letdown of the Year to 2026’s Ex-SuperWest Sixth Man of the Year, Jaime Jaquez Jr., has revived his career beautifully.

In my 2025 awards article, I mentioned how Jaquez’s 41-point performance in the final game of the 2024-25 season could help him regain his confidence, and that’s exactly what happened.

Jaquez averaged 15.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists a night while shooting 50.7% from the field this season, a huge jump from the 8.6 PPG he put up last season.

He also had an above-average PER (15.7) and VORP above 0.4 (1.1) for the first time in his career. Despite Jaquez’s success, the Heat are reportedly looking to trade most of their core after missing the playoffs.

If Tyler Herro and the modern NBA’s all-time leading single-game scorer, Bam Adebayo, aren’t safe from being dealt, then Jaquez isn’t either.

SuperWest Biggest Letdown of the Year

Brandin Podziemski (Golden State Warriors, Santa Clara)

As a Warriors fan, I am desperately hoping for a Jaquez-type turnaround for Brandin Podziemski. Podziemski famously sent the legendary Klay Thompson to the bench in his rookie season.

Despite a slow start, he ended his sophomore regular season with a bang, averaging 15.1 points while shooting 46.6% from the field and 41.0% from deep in his final 33 games of the campaign.

Unfortunately, Podziemski struggled mightily in the 2025 playoffs, and his struggles carried over into the next season.

Podziemski shot below 40% in 30 games this season, and went 80 games (almost 2,300 minutes) before he had his first truly great game of the year, a career-high 30-point night in a loss to the lowly Kings.

The 2025-26 season was the first time he recorded a negative Defensive Box Plus/Minus (-0.1) and a negative Plus/Minus Net Per 100 Possessions (-0.8).

With Stephen Curry getting older and more injury-prone, Podziemski has to step up next year.

SuperWest Most Valuable Player of the Year

Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics, California)

Kawhi Leonard had the best offensive season of his career, but since the Clippers missed the playoffs after losing to the Warriors in the Play-In, I had to pivot and give the award to Jaylen Brown.

Many expected the Celtics to bottom out due to Jayson Tatum’s injury and the lack of depth in the frontcourt. After a winless start in their first three games, the doubters thought that they were going to be proven right.

But Brown gave his blood, sweat, and tears (and yes, even a bit of his hair) to keep the team relevant.

Brown averaged 28.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 5.0 assists on 48.0% field goal shooting before Tatum’s return in March to lead the team to a 41-21 record.

And after Tatum returned, the Celtics looked unstoppable, going 15-5 to end the year.

In all, the former Finals MVP had 35 30-point games and had career-highs in points, rebounds, assists, and free throws made per game.

Even with the increased volume, he shot the best free-throw percentage of his career (79.5%) while also leading the league in two-point attempts per game (16.0).

He also averaged the highest PER (22.0), Wins Above Replacement (8.9), Box Plus/Minus (3.3), and Win Shares (6.9) of his career.

With Tatum now back and fully healthy, Brown is looking to add another championship and potentially even another Finals MVP to his resume.