NBA renames MVP trophy after Michael Jordan
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Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls during an NBA basketball game in 1991. Photo: Focus on Sport/Getty Images
The NBA announced Tuesday it will rename the league's Most Valuable Player award after six-time NBA champion and five-time MVP Michael Jordan.
The big picture: The rebranding comes amid a new NBA campaign to freshen up its trophies.
- It added a new Clutch Player of the Year award and will give out honors to conference MVPs during the playoffs.
- The award was previously named the Maurice Podoloff Trophy after the league's first commissioner.
- Jordan helped design the new trophy, the league said. It has a five-sided base, a reference to Jordan's five MVP awards.
What they're saying: "As we worked together on this project, it was very important to Michael that the figure not be a likeness of him, but instead that the recipient should be able to see himself in the award," said Mark Smith, a retired vice president of innovation and special projects at Nike. "For Michael, naming the award in his honor was recognition enough.”
Yes, but: Jordan may have the name, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holds the record for most MVP trophies earned with six.
The NBA announced the redesigned Jordan trophy as it unveiled new trophy names for a number of its awards.
- The Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy will be given out to the Defensive Player of the Year and the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy will be awarded to Rookie of the Year.
- The Sixth Man of the Year will receive the John Havlicek Trophy, and the Most Improved Player will earn the George Mikan Trophy.
- The league also announced the new Jerry West Trophy, which will be given to the league's Clutch Player of the Year, who will be a "player who best comes through for his teammates in the clutch," the league said.
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