It’s never too early to talk NBA Awards, and the Sixth Man of the Year race is heating up. After winning the NBA In-Season Tournament, Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves jumped the Dallas Mavs’ Tim Hardaway Jr. in the Sixth Man of the Year odds.

Reaves now has the shortest Sixth Man of the Year odds at +250, surpassing Hardaway at +390, per FanDuel.

In addition to the Lakers and Mavs off-the-bench stars, the other players in contention for this honor come NBA Awards season are Immanuel Quickley of the New York Knicks (+550), Cole Anthony of the Orlando Magic (+650), Malik Monk of the Sacramento Kings (+900) and Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Atlanta Hawks (+1000).

There is still a lot of the 2023-24 NBA season to play, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if Austin Reaves and Tim Hardaway Jr. battle it out for the Sixth Man of the Year Award all season.

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Currently, Reaves is playing 29.1 minutes per game and averaging 14.1 points, 4.7 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 33.0% from 3-point range. By comparison, Hardaway is playing 27.7 minutes off the bench and averaging 16.9 points, 1.5 assists, and 3.5 rebounds while shooting 38.4% from deep.

The big difference in these two players’ candidacies right now could be the Lakers lifting In-Season Tournament hardware by beating the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Cup Final on Saturday. Dallas currently has a (half-game) better record overall at 14-8 on the season while the Lakers are at 14-9. However, the last image of Reaves was with the NBA Cup Trophy after he exploded for 28 points off the bench, which brings more attention to his contributions this season.