Bam, Nunn finalists for NBA awards

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo has been named a finalist for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, with teammate Kendrick Nunn named a finalist for Rookie of the Year.

The league announced the three finalists for each of its major annual honors Saturday.

The announcements were made amid the NBA ongoing “seeding” schedule of regular-season games in the quarantine setting at Disney World, with the decision made to complete the media balloting ahead of the league’s resumption out of fairness to the eight lottery teams not invited to the restart.

Nunn is bidding to become the first Rookie of the Year in the Heat’s 32 seasons, although Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant is the overwhelming favorite, possibly to be a unanimous selection in the media voting. The other finalist for Rookie of the Year is New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson.

Williamson was the No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft, with Morant No. 2. Nunn went undrafted out of Oakland University in 2018, with the guard spending 2018-19 with the Golden State Warriors’ affiliate.

Adebayo is bidding to become the Heat’s third Most Improved Player, with Rony Seikaly (1990) and Ike Austin (1997) the team’s previous winners. The two other finalists are Dallas Mavericks forward Luka Doncic and Pelicans guard Brandon Ingram. Heat 3-point specialist Duncan Robinson also had been considered a leading candidate with his emergence this season.

Adebayo was not among the three finalists for Defensive Player Award, with those nods going to Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis and Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert.

The Heat’s lone Defensive Player of the Year remains Alonzo Mourning, who took the award in 1999 and 2000.

The Heat had been pushing guard Goran Dragic as a candidate for the Sixth Man Award, but the three finalists there are Oklahoma City Thunder guard Dennis Schroder, Los Angeles Clippers forward Montrezl Harrell and Clippers guard Lou Williams.

The Heat have never had a winner of the Sixth Man Award.

Erik Spoelstra, who guided the Heat to a higher winning percentage than anticipated, was not a finalist for Coach of the Year. Those finalists are the Toronto Raptors’ Nick Nurse, Bucks’ Mike Budenholzer and Thunder’s Billy Donovan.

The Heat’s lone winner of Coach of the Year remains Pat Riley, in 1997.

The three finalists for Most Valuable Players are Antetokounmpo, Lakers forward LeBron James and Houston Rockets guard James Harden.

The winners of the awards will be announced through the balance of the restart at Disney.

The NBA in recent years had held a self-contained awards show after the conclusion of the NBA Finals, but that schedule, like everything for the league, was altered by the new coronavirus pandemic, which has precluded large social gatherings.