Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart won the 2022-23 NBA Hustle Award, the league announced Thursday.
It is the second straight year and the third time in five seasons that Smart, 29, has received the annual honor.
The so-called hustle stats — deflections, loose balls recovered, charges drawn, screen assists, contested shots and box-outs — have been tracked by the NBA since 2016. The award was first presented in 2016-17.
Smart, the 2021-22 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, averaged 11.5 points, 6.3 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 61 games (all starts) in 2022-23.
“His energy plays, the sacrifices he makes for his teammates, the all-out effort in which he competes may not appear in the traditional box score,” read the NBA news release. “But those plays were key to Boston finishing with the second-best record in the NBA (57-25) and helped Smart earn his third career NBA Hustle Award.”
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green finished second in the voting and Indiana Pacers swingman Aaron Nesmith was third.
–Field Level Media