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 S ...

(NBA) presents 13 annual awards to recognize its teams, players, and coaches for their accomplishments. This does not include the

NBA championship trophy The Larry O'Brien NBA Championship Trophy is the championship trophy awarded annually by the National Basketball Association (NBA) to the winner of the NBA Finals. The trophy originally kept the Walter A. Brown Trophy name of its predecessor ...

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 Walter Augustine Brown (February 10, 1905 – September 7, 1964) was the founder and original owner of the Boston Celtics, as well as an important figure in the development of ice hockey in the United States. Life He was born in Hopkinton, Ma ...

who was instrumental in merging the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League into the NBA. 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. In 1984, the trophy was renamed to honor former NBA

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

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 ...

. The NBA then first started awarding Eastern Conference and Western Conference championship trophies in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, renaming them in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

after former players

Bob Cousy Robert Joseph Cousy (, born August 9, 1928) is an American former professional basketball player. Cousy played point guard for the Boston Celtics from 1950 to 1963, and briefly with the Cincinnati Royals during the 1969–70 season. A 13-time N ...

and

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played ...

, respectively. The NBA's first individual awards were the Rookie of the Year and the

All-Star Game Most Valuable Player The Major League Baseball All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award is an annual Major League Baseball (MLB) award which is presented to the most outstanding player in each year's MLB All-Star Game. Awarded each season since 1962 (two games w ...

, both of which were introduced in . 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 The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' but is officially recognized by the NBA. 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, during which the winners of all season-long individual awards are announced except for the winner of the

J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award The J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award was an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given from 1975 to 2020 to a player, coach, or staff member who showed "outstanding service and dedication to the community." The award was named in ...

, which continued to be announced during the playoffs until 2017 and in 2018 was announced after the playoffs but before the awards show. 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 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 ...

, the

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award The Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award which honors players who are making strides in the fight for social justice. The award was created in 2021 and named after Kareem Abdul ...

. This award was made to recognize players who are making strides in the fight for social justice.

Team trophies

Honors

Individual awards

Notes

*Though the award winner is usually determined by nine votes, fans balloting on NBA.com accounted for the tenth vote in at least one NBA Finals. *

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

player,

Montrezl Harrell Montrezl Dashay Harrell (; (born January 26, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals. Harrell received t ...

won the 2019-20 NBA Hustle Award, which honors the player that makes the energy and effort plays to help his team win throughout the season.

References

General * Specific {{NBA * National Basketball Association lists

Team trophies

Honors

Individual awards

See also

Notes

References