Named the Sixth Man of the Year in 2023-24, Naz Reid finished fifth in voting last season. He clearly has been one of the most impactful players who mostly come off the bench in recent years.
As we near the regular season being one-third over, Reid hasn’t missed any of the Timberwolves’ 26 outings thus far, and every one of them has come as a reserve. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the 26-year-old has again emerged as one of the top Sixth Man of the Year candidates.
Slow start from Reid is long forgotten
Getting off to a bit of a slow start to begin the season, Reid has been back to being his productive self. On the year, the seven-year veteran is posting averages of 13.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and a steal. Attempting more than six 3-pointers per game, Reid has connected on nearly 40 percent of them. He is also making 54.5 percent of his shots from inside the arc, and his PER of 16.5 is higher than it was when he won Sixth Man of the Year (16.0).
In Minnesota’s previous game against the Kings, Reid totaled 20 points and 11 rebounds. He is the only player to have multiple 20/10 games off the bench this season. Altogether, he has four games of at least 20 points, including a season-high of 28 against the Wizards on November 19.
Naz Reid.
the only player with multiple 20-PT/10-REB games off the bench this szn. pic.twitter.com/RWowgbUopm
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 15, 2025
Fourth-best odds to again win Sixth Man of the Year
As of Tuesday morning, Reid has the fourth-best odds to win Sixth Man of the Year this season at +1000 according to DraftKings Sportsbook.
Listed ahead of him are Anthony Black of the Magic (+600), Jaime Jaquez Jr. of the Heat (+600), and Reed Sheppard of the Rockets (+900). Black has started the last two games for Orlando with Franz Wagner out (could remain a starter if Jalen Suggs’ hip injury keeps him out a while), but he still has substantially more appearances off the bench for now (20 as a reserve, six as a starter).
There’s still a long way to go this season, though, and plenty of opportunities for Reid to improve his standing. Regardless of whether he wins the award for a second time, Reid’s importance can’t be understated on a Timberwolves team that struggles to find bench scoring outside of him. They are fourth-to-last in scoring off the bench at 31.8 points per game, so nearly half of that comes from Reid.
