I wonder if he has a shot a DPOY or 6MOY this year. It would be pretty sweet if he won both. While that might be a stretch maybe he can at least finish top 3 in the voting for each.
He's seems to be getting a lot of good pub early this year with the guarding 1-5 and stretch 6 comments and what not.
Smart finished 8th in DPOY voting last year, and several of those ahead of him seem to be having down years so far (Gobert, Turner, Green), George has yet to play, and who knows how many games Kawhi will play. If Sixers/Bucks underperform expectations as a team, I can see that hurting Giannis and Embiid in the voting. And if C's outperform (and Smart plays enough games), I think he might have a shot, or at least could hope for a top 3 finish.
Uphill battle for sure though, only guard to win it in the last 30 years was Payton in '96. Also helps to lead the league in blocks or steals, which is not something I expect Smart to do (though did finish 6th in spg last year).
Then there's 6MOY, usually goes to a high scorer, but not always. Last player to win it averaging under 12ppg was Aaron Mckie in '01, though Iguodala finished a close 2nd in '16, and a very close 2nd '17. Harrell and Williams are both averaging 20ppg off the bench with the Clippers, probably the front runners, though maybe George's return will hurt them. I think if Smart's in the DPOY conversation, then he'll also be in the 6MOY conversation too (assuming Stevens keeps him on the bench when team is healthy), but this award seems like one of the Clippers to lose. Maybe he can get a top 3 finish in the voting though. Besides Williams, and Harrel, maybe Dragic and Dinwiddie are in the conversation here?
C's need to keep winning though for any of this to happen.