NBA Most Valuable Player

This article is about the regular season award. For other MVP awards given by the NBA, see NBA Most Valuable Player (disambiguation).

National Basketball Association awards and honors
Team awards
Individual awards
Honors
NBA Most Valuable Player
SportBasketball
LeagueNational Basketball Association
Awarded forBest performing player in regular season of the National Basketball Association
History
First award1955–56
Most winsKareem Abdul-Jabbar (6)
Most recentNikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets (2024)

The NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1955–56 season to the best performing player of the regular season. Since the 2022–23 season, winners receive the Michael Jordan Trophy, named for the five-time MVP often considered to be the greatest player in NBA history.[1][2]

Prior to 2021, the winner received the Maurice Podoloff Trophy, which was named in honor of the first commissioner (then president)[a] of the NBA, who served from 1946 until 1963. With the switch to the Michael Jordan Trophy, his name was moved to a new Maurice Podoloff Trophy given to the team with the best regular season record.[4] Until the 1979–80 season, the MVP was selected by a vote of NBA players. Since the 1980–81 season, the award is decided by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada.

Each member of the voting panel casts a vote for first to fifth place selections. Each first-place vote is worth 10 points; each second-place vote is worth seven; each third-place vote is worth five, fourth-place is worth three and fifth-place is worth one. Starting from 2010, one ballot was cast by fans through online voting. The player with the highest point total wins the award.[5] As of the 2023–24 season, the current holder of the award is Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets.

Every player who has won this award and deemed eligible for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has been inducted. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the award a record six times.[6] He is also the only player to win the award despite his team not making the playoffs in the 1975–76 season. Both Bill Russell and Michael Jordan won the award five times,[7] while Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James won the award four times. Russell and James are the only players to have won the award four times in five seasons.[8] Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Nikola Jokić each won the award three times, while Bob Pettit, Karl Malone, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo won it twice.[7] Russell, Chamberlain, and Bird are the only players to win the award in three consecutive years. Only two rookies have won the award: Chamberlain (1959–60) and Wes Unseld (1968–69).[9] Seven players who won MVP (combining for eleven total awards) are considered "international players" by the NBA: Hakeem Olajuwon of Nigeria,[b] Duncan of the U.S. Virgin Islands,[c] Nash of Canada,[d] Dirk Nowitzki of Germany, Antetokounmpo of Greece, Jokić of Serbia, and Embiid of Cameroon.[e][12]

Stephen Curry (2015–16) is the only player to have won the award unanimously. Shaquille O'Neal (1999–2000) and LeBron James (2012–13) are the only two players to have fallen one vote shy of a unanimous selection, both receiving 120 of 121 votes.[f][8] Since the 1975–76 season, only three players have been named MVP for a season in which their team failed to win at least 50 regular season games—Moses Malone (twice, 1978–79 and 1981–82), Russell Westbrook (2016–17) and Nikola Jokić (2021–22).[g][15][16]

Effective with the 2023–24 season, when a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the league and its players' union took effect, players must appear in at least 65 games to be eligible for most regular-season awards and honors, including MVP. To receive credit for a game for purposes of award eligibility, a player must have been credited with at least 20 minutes played. However, two "near misses", in which the player appeared for 15 to 19 minutes, can be included in the 65-game count. Protections also exist for players who suffer season-ending injuries, who are eligible with 62 credited games, and those affected by what the CBA calls "bad faith circumstances".[17][18]

  1. ^ "NBA unveils The Michael Jordan Trophy to awarded to Kia MVP". NBA.com. Archived from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  2. ^ Goldsberry, Kirk (December 13, 2022). "NBA renaming MVP after Jordan in awards update". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on January 7, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  3. ^ Monroe, Mike. "The Commissioners". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on July 29, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2008.
  4. ^ "NBA unveils redesigned trophies for end-of-season awards". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
  5. ^ "LeBron receives 116 first-place votes". ESPN.com. May 2, 2010. Archived from the original on June 24, 2013. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
  6. ^ "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on July 31, 2008. Retrieved July 4, 2008.
  7. ^ a b "Most Valuable Player". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on May 28, 2012. Retrieved July 4, 2008.
  8. ^ a b c Wallace, Michael (May 5, 2013). "LeBron James wins 4th MVP award". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2013.
  9. ^ "Wes Unseld". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved July 4, 2008.
  10. ^ "Hakeem Olajuwon Bio: 1992–93". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved June 15, 2008.
  11. ^ "Virgin Islands". CIA World Factbook. Archived from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved August 12, 2008.
  12. ^ a b "NBA Players from around the world: 2005–2006 Season". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on October 29, 2015. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  13. ^ McPeek, Jeramie. "The Canadian Kid". NBA.com (from Fastbreak Magazine of Sept./Oct. 1996). Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on May 11, 2016. Retrieved April 22, 2009.
  14. ^ "76ers star Joel Embiid now U.S. citizen". NBA.com. Retrieved April 23, 2024.
  15. ^ "Who is the leading MVP candidate?". ESPN.com. March 6, 2015. Archived from the original on March 6, 2015.
  16. ^ Hubbard, Jan (April 22, 1990). "NBA NOTES : Charles Barkley Running a Slick Campaign for MVP". Newsday. Archived from the original on March 16, 2015.
  17. ^ Helin, Kurt (April 18, 2023). "More details emerge on new NBA CBA, including details on 65-game threshold for awards". NBC Sports. Archived from the original on June 28, 2023. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
  18. ^ "Article XXIX, Section 6: Games Played Requirement for Certain League Honors" (PDF). NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement. National Basketball Players Association. July 2023. pp. 432–38. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 16, 2023. Retrieved September 13, 2023. The games played requirement specifically applies to the MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Most Improved Player awards, as well as the All-NBA and All-Defensive Teams.


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