Does Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s bounce-back season for Heat make him NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year?
The Miami Heat didn’t have the bounce-back regular season it hoped for. After finishing last season in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, the Heat enters the final day of the NBA regular season on Sunday again in 10th place in the East.
But Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. did have the bounce-back season he hoped for after a rough second NBA season. Jaquez has thrived in a bench role for the Heat in his third NBA season, making him one of the top candidates for the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award.
According to BetOnline, Jaquez has the second-best odds to win the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award. The only player in the league with better odds to earn the honor is San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson, with the winner of the regular-season award selected by a panel of media members and announced at some point during the postseason.
“Just recognition of hard work that I’ve put in through this summer,” Jaquez said ahead of Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Atlanta Hawks at Kaseya Center of what the Sixth Man of the Year award would mean to him. “I think, obviously, I didn’t want to have the year I had last year. But life happens. The only thing you can do is get back up. I heard a great quote, ‘Failure isn’t falling down, failure is staying down.’ And I think just being able to come back and improve on my game, it would just be a great recognition of the hard work.”
Jaquez, 25, entered Sunday’s regular-season finale averaging 15.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game while shooting 50.3 percent from the field and 31.7 percent on 2.4 three-point attempts per game this season. He has played off the bench in 73 of his 74 appearances this season, turning into one of the engines of the Heat’s fast-paced offense through his ability to get into the paint and take advantage of smaller defenders around the basket.
Jaquez is one of only three reserves in NBA history to start fewer than 30 games and average at least 14 points, four rebounds, four assists on at least a true shooting percentage of 55 percent. The other two players on this list — Manu Ginobili in 2007-08 for the Spurs and Tyler Herro in 2021-22 for the Heat — won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award during that respective season.
Jaquez also entered Sunday leading the NBA in total bench points with 1,112 this season — 49 points ahead of the second-place Johnson. Jaquez also ranks first in total fast-break points (197), first in total paint points (712), fifth in total rebounds (366) and second in total assists (343) among reserves around the league this season.
Entering Sunday, the Heat has outscored opponents by 2.5 points per 100 possessions with Jaquez on the court this season.
In addition, Jaquez became just the fourth Heat player in franchise history to score at least 1,000 bench points during a season, joining only Herro, Dwyane Wade and Tyler Johnson. Jaquez entered the final day of the regular season with the second-most bench points on that list, only 50 points behind Herro’s 1,162 bench points during the 2021-22 season (when he won the Sixth Man of the Year award).
“He’s played great in that role,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Jaquez’s effectiveness in the sixth man role. “It’s one of the things that we’ve been able to be consistent with all year. I love keeping him where he is, being able to make a great impact there. He’s playing starter minutes regardless. When his body feels good, then he typically makes a great impact for us.”
But one of the advantages that Johnson has over Jaquez is that Johnson has flourished as the sixth man for a Spurs team that will finish the regular season with the NBA’s second-best record.
“Man, my case is the 70-odd-something games I’ve played,” Jaquez said when asked why he believes he should win the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award this season. “Just take a look at my work. That’s about it.”
Jaquez’s strong third NBA season comes after his shaky sophomore campaign. His production dipped across the board last season after being named to the NBA’s All-Rookie First Team in the previous season.
Jaquez, who was taken by the Heat with the 18th pick in the first round of the 2023 draft, averaged fewer points (8.6 per game last season compared to 11.9 per game the previous season) while shooting a worse percentage from the field (46.1 percent last season compared to 48.9 percent the previous season) and three-point range (31.1 percent last season compared to 32.2 percent the previous season) last regular season than the previous regular season. He also averaged 4.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 0.9 steals per game in 66 regular-season appearances (17 starts) in his second NBA season, and eventually dropped out of the Heat’s rotation in the final weeks of last season.
“I really wanted to have a season like this last year, truthfully,” Jaquez said, with the Heat set to begin its fourth straight NBA play-in tournament appearance with a matchup against the Charlotte Hornets on either Tuesday or Wednesday in either Miami or Charlotte, depending on Sunday’s results. “But sometimes it’s not how the ball bounces and you’ve got to adjust and you’ve got to continue to be better. So really, I want to just continue to make leaps in my career, continue every year to constantly get better and make those jumps.”
Jaquez, who still has one more season left on his rookie-scale contract but is eligible for a five-year extension at a maximum of about $245 million this summer, accepted and excelled in a bench role this season. However, his goal is still to become a full-time NBA starter in the coming years.
“I think everyone hits different points in their careers and they’ve got to adjust to what their role is,” Jaquez said. “This year, my role has been the first man off the bench. I’ve got to embrace that to the best of my ability. I think, ultimately, I would strive to be a real full-time starter in this league. But at the end of the day, I do whatever is best for the team and what the coaches and staff feel like is best. And you really just got to lock into that. But in the future, hopefully I can earn my way to a starting spot. But as of now, I’m enjoying where I’m at.”
