You help a team win a championship, you're going to have a leg up for individual awards, that's just the way it works.

And in a season in which The Raptor - who is now the Jerry Sloan of the award - was in absentia for a long time, the field was ripe for a new champion to swoop in as Mascot of the Year.

For the first time in the 10-year history of the award, Coyote, the San Antonio Spurs bulgy-eyed avatar, has been named the league's top mascot.

Huge breaking news in Spurs country. The Coyote has been voted NBA Mascot of the Year for 2013-14. As if crushing the Heat wasn't enough... — Dan McCarney (@danmccarneysaen) July 31, 2014

Among the highlights in Coyote's season were a very creepy videobomb, continuing his set without eyes, and a whole lot more, as shown in this promotional video from the Spurs.

Last season, Clutch of the Houston Rockets became the second two-time winner of the award (along with Jazz Bear of the Utah Jazz), and this marks the fourth consecutive season a Western Conference team has won the award.