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This week, Boston Celtics guard and former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart was awarded the NBA Hustle Award. The win marked the second straight time that Smart has won the NBA Hustle Award, and the third time he's won in five seasons.
According to the NBAPR official Twitter account, the award is meant to honor a "player who makes impactful effort plays that might not appear in the box score." examples of feats that don't appear on the box score include drawing charges, deflections, and recovering loose balls.
The award was created back in 2017, with Patrick Beverley winning the inaugural award during the 2016-17 season.
Looking at previous award winners of the NBA Hustle Award
With Marcus Smart’s win of the 2023 NBA Hustle Award, let’s take a look back at some past winners of the award. After Patrick Beverley was named the inaugural winner, it was center Amir Johnson of the Philadelphia 76ers to win the award the following year. Johnson notably was the first center to ever win the award.
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The very next season, Marcus Smart won the 2018-19 NBA Hustle Award for the first time, before Montrez Harrell of the LA Clippers won during the 2019-20 season. Harrell’s win marked a shift in the award as he was succeeded by another big man, Thaddeus Young who won the award for the 2020-21 season.
The very next year, it was Marcus Smart who won the award for a second time, before he then completed his back-to-back win this season. Marcus Smart and the Boston Celtics are currently engaged in a heated showdown against the Philadelphia 76ers, with the series tied 1-1. Unfortunately, Smart got rather banged up in the win. After the game, he was quoted by The Athletic as saying:
“I’m sore as shit. I’m really sore. But I’ll be okay.”
For the Boston Celtics, a team who has been able to avoid catastrophic injuries to key players in the postseason, Smart’s update is both encouraging and concerning. While it doesn’t sound like he’ll miss time with the injury, he doesn’t seem to be at 100%.
Stay tuned for updates as they become available ahead of Game 3 on Friday.
