Malik Monk is the current favourite to land the Sixth Man of the Year award, as he’s become such an integral part of coach Mike Brown’s game plan every night. However, the player has a difficult decision to make this offseason as he is set to hit free agency, and should earn a lucrative deal wherever he goes.
However, in a recent interview with the press, he revealed his thoughts on this impending situation. Even though he expressed that a lot will depend on how the Kings will compete in the upcoming playoffs, he also admitted that he’s found a lot of comfort in Sacramento and would “love” to stay put.
“Depends on what we do in the postseason, as well,” the 26-year-old said. “But I’d love to be here, man. Got comfortable here. Made a lot of new friends, met a lot of great people. The city loves me. I love the city. “So, yeah, I’d love to come back.”
Malik Monk this season:
• 🪣 15.9 PPG
• 🪙 5.3 APG
• 🎯 2.2 3PMEvery player that has averaged those numbers off the bench has gone on to win 6MOY. pic.twitter.com/eMXwQDMVeL
— StatMamba (@StatMamba) March 19, 2024
The shooting guard is averaging 15.9 points, 5.3 assists and 3.0 rebounds in 26.5 minutes per match this campaign so far, but he is in a league of his own when it comes to impact from the bench. Monk is the only athlete with 1,050 bench points or 300 assists, as no one else has even reached 900 points up to this point.
Malik was hired at the same time as his current coach back in the summer of 2022, and he still remembers a special conversation they had halfway through their first season together. According to the tactician, they both remember this moment as one of the most influential moments of Monk’s career, which inspired him to take a leap to become the most productive bench player in the league.
“You’ve played this many minutes,” Brown told the press when recalling that conversation. “You know how many charges you’ve taken?”
As the player didn’t know the answer to that question, his coach added: “You have one charge. And on the one charge you have, you were coming from the weak side to the strong side of the floor and you tripped over somebody’s foot. When you stood up, you got run over and they gave you a charge.”
Monk is well aware of what needs to happen for him to conquer the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award
When asked if he felt he deserved to earn his first ever NBA Sixth Man of the Year accolade, he recognised that he could still improve his game and earn even more minutes to prove himself. Despite his urgency to develop his basketball this season, he’s currently the front-runner to earn the award.
“Be more consistent,” he revealed. “That would probably give me a little bit more minutes out there. Maybe it’d give me a little bit more shots.”
Coach Brown is currently in his second campaign with the Kings after last year’s revolution in Sacramento, when the team made the playoffs for the first time in almost 17 years.
The tactician knows that the only way to succeed is with game-plan discipline and physicality, which is what he’s asked from Monk. “In this league, if a guy is not a physical player, it’s hard to get him to become a physical player,” the trainer explained. “Just like if a guy isn’t high, high effort, it’s hard to get him to become that.
“There’s no way he does that last year. No way. So in an area I’ve been pushing him hard to improve, he’s shown a drastic improvement in a short time. I’ve never seen it in that area that quickly. I’m 100 percent surprised by it.”
