The NBA announced Julius Randle as the award winner for the 2020-21 NBA’s Most Improved Player on Tuesday afternoon. Randle was the nearly unanimous selection for the award, earning 98 of the 100 first-place votes to win the award comfortably.
New Orleans’ Lonzo Ball – a former teammate and friend of Randle’s – earned a singular third-place selection in the voting. Ball experienced a breakout season with the Pelicans in his fourth year, averaging a career-high 14.6 points with career-best shooting percentages from the field (41.4%), the 3-point line (37.8%) and the free throw line (78.1%).
Ball was one of seven players to receive a single point in the award voting, joining T.J. McConnell of the Pacers, Andrew Wiggins of the Warriors, Richaun Holmes of the Kings, Bojan Bogdanovic of the Jazz, Terry Rozier of the Hornets and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder.
Randle finished with 493 points, well ahead of Detroit’s Jerami Grant in second with 140 points. Grant received both first-place votes that did not go to Randle. Michael Porter Jr. of Denver was a close second.
Detroit’s Christian Wood and Chicago’s Zach LaVine rounded out the top five. Jaylen Brown of Boston, Chris Boucher of Toronto, Mikal Bridges of Phoenix, Zion Williamson of New Orleans and Nikola Vucevic of Orlando and Chicago comprised the remainder of the top 10.
