NBA Most Valuable Player Award

National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award is an annual award given to the best player of the regular NBA season. Robert E. Lee Petit, also known as Bob Pettit is the first recipient of the Maurice Podoloff Throphy on the 1955-1956 Season with the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks. MVP voting has many history. On 1979-1980 NBA Season, the MVP was originally selected by a vote of NBA players. But since the 1980-1981Season, a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters around the United States and Canda decides the winner. It is done by 125 members of the media. Each cities with NBA team has 3 representatives. The remaining panels are mix of national writers and broadcasters.

Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has won the award six times in his career, a record with the most in the history of the NBA. Next to Kareem is Bill Russell and Michael Jordan with five most valuable player award. Wilt Chamberlain with four while Moses Malone, Ervin “Magic” Johnson and Larry Bird each won three times in their NBA careers. Wes Unseld and Wilt Chamberlain are the only players who win the MVP Award together with Rookie of the Year on a single NBA Season. The most recent winner is Kobe Bryant of Los Angels Lakers (2007-2008 Season).

NBA Rookie of the Year Award

The National Basketball Association’s Rookie of the Year Award is one of the most awaited annual NBA award given to the most talented rookie in a regular season. The selection of winner is done by a panel of sportswriters around the United States and Canada. The selection is divided into 3 parts – 1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place. The 1st place gets 5 point votes, the second gets 3 points while the 3rd place gets only a point. The rookie/s with the highest total of points will receive an Eddie Gottlieb Trophy. The throphy was named in honor of the Philadelphia Warriors head coach who led the team to the 1946-1947 First NBA Championship.

The first NBA Rookie of the Year was awarded to Don “Monk” Meineke of Fort Wayne Pistons after the 1952-1953 NBA Season while the most recent award was received by Kevin Durant of the Seattle Supersonics. Wilt Chamberlain and Wes Unseld both received NBA Most Valuable Player Award and Rookie of the Year in the same season. Twelve Rookie of the Year Awardee won Most Valuable Player too during their careers. Nineteen of the Rookie of the Year winners have been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. So far, there are three winners who were not born in the United States – Patric Ewing (Jamaica), Tim Duncan (US Virgin Islands) and Pau Gasol (Spain). Among the three, Tim Duncan is an American Citizen but considered as an internation player for he was not born in the United States.