T.J. McConnell finishes second to Derrick White in Sportsmanship Award vote

INDIANAPOLIS -- Pacers veteran point guard T.J. McConnell finished second to Boston's Derrick White in balloting for the NBA's Sportsmanship Award, but it was a close second and McConnell actually had the most first-place votes according to balloting figures released by the NBA on Thursday.

According to a post on the NBA Communications Department's social media accounts, voting for the Sportsmanship Award is a three-part process. First, each team nominates a player for the award, then a panel of league executives narrows the nominees down from 30 to six with one representing each of the league's divisions. McConnell was chosen as the representative of the Central Division. The other five were White, reigning MVP and Oklahoma City point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Miami center Bam Adebayo, San Antonio forward Harrison Barnes and Golden State center Al Horford.

After that, the remaining six nominees are voted on by all active NBA players, who each rank each of the nominees 1-6, with points assigned for each rank and the winner being determined by total points. McConnell received the most first-place votes with 83 with White finishing second with 77 and Horford and Barnes earning 73 each. However, White was picked second on 113 ballots while McConnell was listed as the second choice for 72, and that ultimately led to White's margin of victory. White finished with 2,826 total points to McConnell's 2,566. Barnes was third with 2,466 and Horford fourth with 2,456. Adebayo was fifth with 1,950 and Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 1,632.