The big goal is still alive, but Tim Hardaway Jr. failed to accomplish one of his side quests this season.

Denver’s hot-shooting reserve spoken openly about his desire to win Sixth Man of the Year at different times this season. He ended up finishing third in the vote for the NBA’s John Havlicek Award, given to the league’s best nonstarter. San Antonio wing Keldon Johnson won the award after averaging 13.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists for the Spurs, which finished as the two seed in the Western Conference. Johnson received 63 of the 100 first-place votes and finished with 404 total points.

Miami’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. finished second after averaging 15.4 points, five rebounds and 4.7 assists in his third NBA season. Jaquez received 34 first-place votes and totaled 331 points.

Hardaway did not receive a first-place vote but got seven second-place votes and 24 third-place votes to finish with 45 points.

The 34-year-old played in 80 of Denver’s 82 regular-season games with 74 of those appearances as a reserve. He averaged 13.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists while shooting a career-best 40.7% on 3-pointers in his first season with the Nuggets.

This season was as close as Hardaway has come to adding some hardware. He received votes for Sixth Man of the Year as a rookie with the Knicks in 2014, finishing 13th. He went on to finish 10th as a member of the Hawks in 2016, fifth in 2021 as a member of the Mavericks and ninth in 2024 in his final season in Dallas.

The dream of winning his first championship is still alive, as Denver heads to Minnesota for Game 3 of a first-round series.