The Hawks named fourth-year wing Kevin Huerter the recipient of the 2021-22 Sekou Smith award, given annually to the player who “best represents themselves and the franchise with professionalism and integrity in their interactions with the media.”
The award is named for Smith, who covered the Hawks for the AJC from 2005-09 before joining NBA Digital as an analyst and multimedia reporter. Smith died in January of 2021 after battling COVID-19. The Hawks dedicated their media room to Smith, naming it the Sekou Smith Press Room, and also launched an annual Hawks-NBA Summer League internship in his honor.
A select local media panel voted Huerter as winner, and he was recognized before the Hawks-Wizards game Wednesday at State Farm Arena and presented the award by members of Smith’s family.
“Kevin is a very deserving recipient of this honor from the Atlanta media. Since the day he was drafted, Kevin has been accommodating, honest and available to media, respecting the work that the media does in telling the story of our team to the fans,” Hawks senior vice president of public relations Garin Narain said. “We are proud that Kevin continues to uphold the values of professionalism and candor with the media, two aspects of the job that Sekou was a master at.”
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