On March 31, Beijing time, the NBA officially announced the 12-man shortlist for the 2021-22 Season Best Teammate Award. There are 6 people in each of the east and the west, for a total of 12 candidates. The list is chosen by league executives, and the final winner will be voted on by all players across the league.
The list of 12 candidates on the list is as follows -
East: Bulls DeRozan, Heat Haslem, Bucks Holliday, Cavaliers Love, Raptors VanVleet, Celtic Grant Williams
West: Warriors Iguodala, Jazz Rudy Guy, Nuggets Jeff Green, Grizzlies Jarren Jackson Jr., Lone Ranger Boban, Suns Paul
This award recognizes the NBA's best teammates, selfless performance, leadership on and off the court, and mentoring and role models for other NBA players, as well as commitment and dedication to the team. Each player can shoot 5 people, which are counted as 10, 7, 5, 3 and 1 in order of arrangement. The player who finishes first in total points will receive this award.
Teammate of the Year Award, full name is The Whiteman Stokes Teammate of the Year Award. The official award is named after two players, Teweiman and Stokes, teammates of the Rochester/Cincinnati Royals in 1955–58, who suffered a serious injury in the final game of the 1957–58 regular season and fell into a coma a few days later, permanently paralyzed. Stokes was cared for for the rest of his life by Twaiman, who volunteered to become his legal guardian.
Teweman not only organized Stokes' memorial basketball game to raise medical funds for him, but also continued to raise funds for other players in need after Stokes' death in 1970. In 2004, after years of lobbying by Twaiman, Stokes entered the Basketball Hall of Fame. Twaiman himself was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983 and died in 2012.
Here's a list of winners of past Best Teammate Awards –
2012–13: Billups (Clippers)
2013–14 season: Battier (Heat)
2014–15 Season: Duncan (Spurs)
2015–16: Carter (Grizzlies)
2016-17 season: Nowitzki (Lone Ranger)
2017-18: Crawford (Timberwolves)
2018–19 season: Conley (Grizzlies)
2019–20: Holliday (Pelicans)
2020-21 season: Lillard (Blazers)