The Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan is often viewed as the best player in the history of the NBA. And the league appears to be agreeing.
The NBA just announced that its annual MVP award, given to the most valuable player in a given season, will be named after Jordan. The announcement was followed by the unveiling of the redesigned trophy.
Jordan won five MVP awards in his career, trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s six MVP honors. He led the Bulls to six NBA championships and made the All-Star team 14 times. He was also the scoring leader 10 times and had an NBA Defensive Player of the Year award on his resume as well.
The first recipient of the new Michael Jordan MVP trophy will be the Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. The NBA decided to award the trophy retroactively to Jokic for his MVP campaign in the 2021-22 season.
Besides Michael Jordan, the league decided to honor a number of other iconic NBA players. The Defensive Player of the Year award will be named after Houston Rockets’ great Hakeem Olajuwon, while the Rookie of the Year trophy will carry the name of Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain.
John Havlicek, the eight-time NBA title winner with the Boston Celtics, will lend its name to the Sixth Man of the Year trophy, while the Most Improved Player of the Year award will now carry the name of one of the professional basketball pioneers George Mikan.
