The Larry O'Brien NBA Championship Trophy is the championship trophy awarded annually by the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) to the

winner Winner(s) or The Winner(s) may refer to: * Champion, the victor in a game or contest *The successful social class in winner and loser culture Film * ''The Winner'' (1926 film), an American silent film starring Billy Sullivan * ''The Winner'' ...

of the NBA Finals. The trophy originally kept the Walter A. Brown Trophy name of its predecessor until being renamed in 1984. The current design, depicting a basketball over a hoop and basket, was first awarded in 1977 still under its original name, which was changed in honor of former NBA commissioner

Larry O'Brien Lawrence Francis O'Brien Jr. (July 7, 1917September 28, 1990) was an American politician and basketball commissioner. He was one of the United States Democratic Party's leading electoral strategists for more than two decades. He served as Postm ...

who served from 1975 to 1984. Before joining the NBA, O'Brien was the

United States Postmaster General The United States Postmaster General (PMG) is the chief executive officer of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The PMG is responsible for managing and directing the day-to-day operations of the agency. The PMG is selected and appointed by ...

under President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

from 1965 to 1968.

History

A new trophy was created for the

1977 NBA Finals The 1977 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1976–77 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Portland Trail Blazers played ag ...

. The inaugural winners were the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

, who defeated Philadelphia 76ers in six games. Unlike the original championship trophy, the new trophy was given permanently to the winning team and a new one was made every year, similar to the

Philip F. Anschutz Trophy The Philip F. Anschutz Trophy is a silver trophy that is awarded to winners of MLS Cup. Since the inaugural MLS Cup in 1996, three trophies have been used: the Alan I. Rothenberg Trophy from 1996 to 1998, a second version of the Rothenberg Tro ...

, awarded annually to the winning team of the

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...

and the Commissioner's Trophy, awarded annually to the winning team of Major League Baseball's

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

. The 1982-83 76ers were the last team to win the Brown Trophy, sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

. 125px, Original trophy design used from 1977-2021. In 1984, the trophy was renamed to the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, in honor of Larry O'Brien, who served as NBA commissioner from 1975 to 1984. The Boston Celtics were the inaugural winners of the renamed trophy, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games in the

1984 NBA Finals The 1984 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1983–84 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics defeated the West ...

. Coming along a series of redesigned awards as part of its 75th anniversary season, the trophy design has been changed again. The most notable change is the two discs replacing the square foundation of the previous design. According to the designer of the new trophy, the square foundation was seen as an awkward way to hold the trophy, and the round discs will make it easier to carry and lift. The two discs function like the metal bands of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL)'s Stanley Cup. The top disc shows the league's first 75 championship teams from 1947 to

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, while the bottom disc will have the next 25 championship teams from 2022 to 2046, in time for the association's 100th anniversary. The resigned trophy's ball and net are also slanted to the right, or forward, to represent the league's continued desire to be progressive.

Description

The trophy is two feet tall and is made of 15.5 pounds of

sterling silver Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925. '' Fine silver'', which is 99.9% pure silver, i ...

and vermeil with a 24

karat The fineness of a precious metal object (coin, bar, jewelry, etc.) represents the weight of ''fine metal'' therein, in proportion to the total weight which includes alloying base metals and any impurities. Alloy metals are added to increase hardne ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

overlay. The basketball depicted on top is the same size as a real basketball. The trophy is manufactured by Tiffany & Co. The championship team maintains permanent possession of the trophy (although one exception exists, as described below). The year and winning team names are engraved on the trophies, and are often prominently displayed in the winning team's arena. After the sale of the Houston Rockets from Leslie Alexander to

Tilman Fertitta Tilman Joseph Fertitta (born 1957) is an American billionaire businessman and television personality. He is the chairman, CEO, and owner of Landry's, Inc. He also owns the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Houston Rockets. Fertitta is ch ...

in late 2017, Alexander maintained the ownership of the team's 1993-94 and 1994-95 trophies as mementos of his ownership. Thus, the team commissioned Tiffany to create replica versions of both Larry O'Brien trophies (and replacing the 1993-94 trophy, which was unexpectedly dropped and dented by reserve center

Richard Petruška Richard Petruška (born January 25, 1969) is a Slovak-Italian former professional basketball player and coach. He was born in Levice, Czechoslovakia. At a height of 6'10" (2.08 m) tall, and a weight of 260 lbs. (118 kg), he played at the powe ...

during the celebration), which were publicly unveiled on September 20, 2018.

Promotion

Although the Larry O'Brien Trophy has been compared with the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup, it has never been as prominent as the NHL trophy. To reduce this discrepancy, the NBA has been actively promoting the O'Brien Trophy in recent years to generate more recognition and an iconic status for the trophy. The trophy appeared on past logos for the NBA Finals. After the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

won the NBA Finals in 2004, the trophy was toured around the state of

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, marking the first time the trophy toured around the state of the winning team. In 2005, the NBA Legends Tour was launched in New York City. As part of the tour, the O’Brien Trophy was showcased in various cities—including those that were hosting the playoffs—for fans' autograph and photo sessions. It was escorted by many former players, including

Julius Erving Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American former professional basketball player. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA), and he was the best-known player ...

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran. Given name Karim * Karim A ...

and

Bill Russell William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played as a center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. A five-time NBA Most Va ...

. In May 2007, the NBA unveiled the NBA Headquarters on

Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...

, an Internet-based virtual reality environment. With this launch, fans could take pictures with the championship trophy in the virtual Toyota Larry O'Brien Trophy Room. In August, the trophy traveled to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

for the first time as part of the NBA Madness Asia Tour.

By franchise

This table lists the teams that have won the Larry O' Brien Championship Trophy since it was introduced in 1977. It includes trophies awarded before it was renamed in 1984. For a complete history of NBA championship teams, see ''

List of NBA champions The National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals is the championship series for the NBA held at the conclusion of its postseason. All Finals have been played in a best-of-seven format, and are contested between the winners of the Eastern Co ...

''.

References

External links