FILE–Marcus Smart #36 of the Boston Celtics. Ian Maule/Getty Images/AFP
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.