List of NBA awards

"NBA awards" redirects here. For the awards show, see NBA Awards.

National Basketball Association awards and honors
Team awards
Individual awards
Honors

The National Basketball Association (NBA) presents 13 annual awards to recognize its teams, players, and coaches for their accomplishments. This does not include the NBA championship trophy which is given to the winning team of the NBA Finals. The NBA's championship trophy made its first appearance after the inaugural NBA Finals in 1947. In 1964, it was named after Walter A. Brown who was instrumental in merging the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League into the NBA.[1][2] The Brown Trophy design remained the same until 1977 when the current trophy design was first introduced although it retained the Walter A. Brown title.[3] In 1984, the trophy was renamed to honor former NBA commissioner Larry O'Brien.[3][4][5] The NBA then first started awarding Eastern Conference and Western Conference championship trophies in 2001, renaming them in 2022 after former players Bob Cousy and Oscar Robertson, respectively.[6]

The NBA's first individual awards were the Rookie of the Year and the All-Star Game Most Valuable Player, both of which were introduced in 1953.[7][8] Three individual awards are awarded during the postseason: the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP, the Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals MVP, and the Bill Russell Finals MVP. The Executive of the Year is the only award not presented by the NBA. It is named annually by Sporting News but is officially recognized by the NBA.[9]

Through the 2015–16 season and since the 2019–20 season, each individual award, with the exception of the Finals MVP, was awarded at the end of the regular season while the NBA playoffs were ongoing. This procedure was different from the other major professional sports leagues, which have long handed out individual awards after their postseasons have concluded. The 2016–17 season was the first in which the NBA held an awards show after the completion of the Finals,[10] during which the winners of all season-long individual awards are announced[11] except for the winner of the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award, which continued to be announced during the playoffs until 2017[12] and in 2018 was announced after the playoffs but before the awards show.[13]

Aside from these annual awards, the league also has weekly and monthly honors during the regular season for its players and coaches. In 2021, the NBA made a social justice award, named after 6-time NBA champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award. This award was made to recognize players who are making strides in the fight for social justice.

  1. ^ "Walter A. Brown". Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on August 31, 2009. Retrieved July 27, 2008.
  2. ^ "NBA". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2008.
  3. ^ a b "Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved July 26, 2008.
  4. ^ "The trophies". St. Petersburg Times. April 10, 2003. Archived from the original on January 11, 2009. Retrieved July 26, 2008.
  5. ^ "NBA Legends Launch 2005 NBA Legends Tour: Destination Finals". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved July 26, 2008.
  6. ^ "NBA redesigns Finals trophy, adds awards named after Magic Johnson, Larry Bird". Washington Post. May 12, 2022. Archived from the original on May 13, 2022. Retrieved May 30, 2022. To complete the postseason collection, the NBA updated its conference championship trophies, first created in 2001, and renamed them after Hall of Famers Bob Cousy (for the East) and Oscar Robertson (for the West)
  7. ^ "All-Star Game: Year-by-Year Results". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on April 13, 2012. Retrieved July 26, 2008.
  8. ^ "Rookie of the Year". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on March 29, 2010. Retrieved July 26, 2008.
  9. ^ "Reports: Baylor wins NBA executive of the year". ESPN. May 14, 2006. Archived from the original on November 12, 2011. Retrieved July 24, 2008.
  10. ^ "First-ever NBA awards show to air June 2017 on TNT" (Press release). National Basketball Association. November 1, 2016. Archived from the original on July 28, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  11. ^ "2017 NBA Awards Finalists". National Basketball Association. Archived from the original on July 20, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  12. ^ "Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James wins PBWA's J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award" (Press release). National Basketball Association. May 21, 2017. Archived from the original on July 28, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  13. ^ "Mavericks' J. J. Barea Wins 2017-18 J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award" (Press release). National Basketball Association. June 13, 2018. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2018.