Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award

Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award Established 1969 Current holder(s) Dirk Nowitzki Awarded to the Most valuable player in each NBA Finals Jerry West, the inaugural award recipient, is the only person to win while being on the losing team (in the 1969 NBA Finals). Michael Jordan is the only person to win this award six times. Tim Duncan (top) is the only international player to win this award multiple times, while Tony Parker (bottom) is the first European player to win the award. Kobe Bryant is a two-time Finals MVP.

The Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award (formerly known as the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award) is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1969 NBA Finals. The award is decided by a panel of nine media members, who cast vote after the conclusion of the final round. The person with the highest votes wins the award. In at least one NBA Finals, fans balloting on NBA.com accounted for the tenth vote.^[1][2] Originally, the award was a black trophy with a gold basketball-shaped sphere at the top, similar to the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, until a smaller trophy was introduced in 2005.^[3][4]

Since its inception, the award has been given to 27 different players. Michael Jordan, who led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA Championships from 1991 to 1993 and 1996 to 1998, is the only player to win the award six times.^[5] Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, and Tim Duncan all won the award three times in their career while Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Kobe Bryant won the award twice. Jordan and O'Neal are the only players to win the award in three consecutive seasons (Jordan accomplished the feat on two separate occasions). Olajuwon and Bryant have won the award in two consecutive seasons. Abdul-Jabbar is the only player to win the award for two different teams, first with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971, then with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1985. Johnson is the only rookie ever to win the award when he won it with the Lakers in 1980.^[6] Jerry West, the first ever awardee, won the award while being on the losing team in the NBA Finals.^[5] Olajuwon of Nigeria, who was a naturalized U.S. citizen since 1993, Tim Duncan of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Tony Parker of France (born in Belgium) and Dirk Nowitzki of Germany are the only four international players to win the award. Duncan is an American citizen, but is considered an "international" player by the NBA because he was not born in one of the fifty states or Washington, D.C.^[7] Parker and Nowitzki are the only winners to have been trained totally outside the U.S.; Olajuwon played college basketball at Houston and Duncan at Wake Forest.

On February 14, 2009, during the 2009 NBA All-Star Weekend in Phoenix, NBA Commissioner David Stern announced that the award would be re-named the "Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award" in honor of 11-time NBA champion Bill Russell.^[8]

Winners

^	Denotes player who is still active in the NBA
*	Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has received the Finals MVP award
Team (X)	Denotes the number of times a player from this team has received the Finals MVP award

Year	Player	Positions	Nationality	Team
1969	West, JerryJerry West*[a]	Guard	United States	Los Angeles Lakers
1970	Reed, WillisWillis Reed*	Center/Forward	United States	New York Knicks
1971	Alcindor, LewLew Alcindor*[b]	Center	United States	Milwaukee Bucks
1972	Chamberlain, WiltWilt Chamberlain*	Center	United States	Los Angeles Lakers (2)
1973	Reed, WillisWillis Reed* (2)	Center/Forward	United States	New York Knicks (2)
1974	Havlicek, JohnJohn Havlicek*	Forward/Guard	United States	Boston Celtics
1975	Barry, RickRick Barry*	Forward	United States	Golden State Warriors
1976	White, Jo JoJo Jo White	Guard	United States	Boston Celtics (2)
1977	Walton, BillBill Walton*	Center	United States	Portland Trail Blazers
1978	Unseld, WesWes Unseld*	Center/Forward	United States	Washington Bullets
1979	Johnson, DennisDennis Johnson*	Guard	United States	Seattle SuperSonics
1980	Johnson, MagicMagic Johnson*	Guard	United States	Los Angeles Lakers (3)
1981	Maxwell, CedricCedric Maxwell	Forward	United States	Boston Celtics (3)
1982	Johnson, MagicMagic Johnson* (2)	Guard	United States	Los Angeles Lakers (4)
1983	Malone, MosesMoses Malone*	Center/Forward	United States	Philadelphia 76ers
1984	Bird, LarryLarry Bird*	Forward	United States	Boston Celtics (4)
1985	Abdul-Jabbar, KareemKareem Abdul-Jabbar*[b] (2)	Center	United States	Los Angeles Lakers (5)
1986	Bird, LarryLarry Bird* (2)	Forward	United States	Boston Celtics (5)
1987	Johnson, MagicMagic Johnson* (3)	Guard	United States	Los Angeles Lakers (6)
1988	Worthy, JamesJames Worthy*	Forward	United States	Los Angeles Lakers (7)
1989	Dumars, JoeJoe Dumars*	Guard	United States	Detroit Pistons
1990	Thomas, IsiahIsiah Thomas*	Guard	United States	Detroit Pistons (2)
1991	Jordan, MichaelMichael Jordan*	Guard	United States	Chicago Bulls
1992	Jordan, MichaelMichael Jordan* (2)	Guard	United States	Chicago Bulls (2)
1993	Jordan, MichaelMichael Jordan* (3)	Guard	United States	Chicago Bulls (3)
1994	Olajuwon, HakeemHakeem Olajuwon*	Center	United States[c]	Houston Rockets
1995	Olajuwon, HakeemHakeem Olajuwon* (2)	Center	United States[c]	Houston Rockets (2)
1996	Jordan, MichaelMichael Jordan* (4)	Guard	United States	Chicago Bulls (4)
1997	Jordan, MichaelMichael Jordan* (5)	Guard	United States	Chicago Bulls (5)
1998	Jordan, MichaelMichael Jordan* (6)	Guard	United States	Chicago Bulls (6)
1999	Duncan, TimTim Duncan^	Forward/Center	United States[d]	San Antonio Spurs
2000	O'Neal, ShaquilleShaquille O'Neal	Center	United States	Los Angeles Lakers (8)
2001	O'Neal, ShaquilleShaquille O'Neal (2)	Center	United States	Los Angeles Lakers (9)
2002	O'Neal, ShaquilleShaquille O'Neal (3)	Center	United States	Los Angeles Lakers (10)
2003	Duncan, TimTim Duncan^ (2)	Forward/Center	United States[d]	San Antonio Spurs (2)
2004	Billups, ChaunceyChauncey Billups^	Guard	United States	Detroit Pistons (3)
2005	Duncan, TimTim Duncan^ (3)	Forward/Center	United States[d]	San Antonio Spurs (3)
2006	Wade, DwyaneDwyane Wade^	Guard	United States	Miami Heat
2007	Parker, TonyTony Parker^[e]	Guard	France	San Antonio Spurs (4)
2008	Pierce, PaulPaul Pierce^	Forward/Guard	United States	Boston Celtics (6)
2009	Bryant, KobeKobe Bryant^	Guard	United States	Los Angeles Lakers (11)
2010	Bryant, KobeKobe Bryant^ (2)	Guard	United States	Los Angeles Lakers (12)
2011	Nowitzki, DirkDirk Nowitzki^	Forward	Germany	Dallas Mavericks

Notes

• ^a Jerry West is the only player to win the award while being on the losing team in the NBA Finals.
• ^b Before the 1971–72 season, Lew Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.^[9]
• ^c Hakeem Olajuwon was born in Nigeria, but became a naturalized United States citizen in 1993.^[10]
• ^d Because Tim Duncan is a United States citizen by birth, as are all natives of the U.S. Virgin Islands,^[11] he was able to play for the U.S. internationally.^[12]
• ^e Tony Parker was born in Belgium to an American father and a Dutch mother. He holds French citizenship and represents France internationally.^[13]

See also

• NBA Most Valuable Player Award
• NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award

References

General

• "Finals Most Valuable Player". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. http://www.nba.com/history/finalsmvps.html. Retrieved July 14, 2008. 
• "Finals Most Valuable Players". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nba&id=3450067. Retrieved July 15, 2008. 

Specific

1. ^ Mike Bresnahan (June 19, 2008). "Numbers from final game tell bad tale for Lakers". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/la-sp-lakersfyi19-2008jun19,0,5202810.story. Retrieved July 15, 2008. 
2. ^ Johnny Ludden (June 25, 2005). "MVP voting as close as the series". San Antonio Express-News. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SAEC&p_theme=saec&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=10B05696DC904A04&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved July 15, 2008. 
3. ^ "Game 5 Notebook: Billups Wins MVP". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. http://www.nba.com/finals2004/game5_notebook.html. Retrieved July 16, 2008. 
4. ^ "Spurs crowned NBA champions". CBC Sports. June 24, 2005. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2005/06/23/spurs-pistons050623.html. Retrieved July 16, 2008. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Finals Most Valuable Player". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. http://www.nba.com/history/finalsmvps.html. Retrieved July 14, 2008. 
6. ^ "Magic Johnson Bio". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. http://www.nba.com/history/players/johnsonm_bio.html. Retrieved October 21, 2010. 
7. ^ "Bargnani becomes first European top NBA draft pick". People's Daily Online. June 29, 2006. http://english.people.com.cn/200606/29/eng20060629_278441.html. Retrieved June 16, 2008. 
8. ^ "The Finals MVP to Receive Bill Russell MVP Award". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. February 14, 2009. http://www.nba.com/2009/news/02/14/russell.trophy/index.html?rss=true. Retrieved February 14, 2009. 
9. ^ "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Bio". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. http://www.nba.com/history/players/abduljabbar_bio.html. Retrieved August 4, 2008. 
10. ^ "Hakeem Olajuwon Bio: 1992–93". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/hakeem_olajuwon/bio.html. Retrieved June 15, 2008. 
11. ^ "Virgin Islands". CIA World Factbook. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/vq.html. Retrieved August 12, 2008. 
12. ^ "All-Time USA Basketball Men's Roster: D". USA Basketball. http://www.usabasketball.com/news.php?news_page=men_alpha_D. Retrieved June 16, 2008. 
13. ^ "Parker wil be speedy foe for Nets". Sports Illustrated. Time Warner Company. June 2, 2003. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/2003/playoffs/news/2003/06/02/parker_spurs_ap/. Retrieved October 17, 2010.