Billy King receives two first place votes for NBA Executive of the Year

The NBA announced on Wednesday that San Antonio Spurs GM R.C. Buford won the NBA Executive of the Year Award. Buford wins the award for the first time in his 12th season as the team's GM, as the Spurs finished with an NBA-best 62-20 record.

Brooklyn Nets GM Billy King received two first place votes and one third place vote, putting him eighth overall. Of course, King orchestrated the trade that brought future Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn this past summer, along with the bargain signings of Andrei Kirilenko, Alan Anderson, Shaun Livingston and drafting Mason Plumlee 22nd overall, among other moves. He also hired Jason Kidd, a first-year coach who has thus far helped coach the Nets to the Eastern Conference SemiFinals.

Here's how the voting went:

As the above list shows, King got fewer votes than Danny AInge, the GM on the other side of the Celtics mega-trade but more than Daryl Morey of the Rockets, who signed Dwight Howard, and Larry Bird, whose team finished first i the East.

And in case you're wondering about voting transparency, well...

Note: Executive of the Year is selected by a vote of NBA team execs, not media. So, no transparency on these ballots.

— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) May 7, 2014

• Spurs GM R.C. Buford wins first NBA Executive of the Year award - Brad Rowland - SI.com