The NBA has been making some pretty big alterations to the awards that are given out at the end of the regular season.
Last year, the league added MVP trophies for both the Western and Eastern Conferences, a first for the league.
They also redesigned the existing awards, sprucing them up and making them look even more special.
But they weren’t done there.
The NBA is redesigning and renaming many of its individual awards.
The MVP is named after Jordan
The DPOY is named after Olajuwon
The ROY is named after Wilt
The MIP is named after Mikan
The 6th Man is named after Havlicek
And there's a new Clutch award named after Jerry West pic.twitter.com/Y3HFo2qkYm— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) December 13, 2022
The NBA is continuing its overhaul of the end-of-season awards and introduced their choices today.
The league’s MVP award is now known as the Michael Jordan Trophy.
Meanwhile, the Defensive Player of the Year Award is now named after Hakeem Olajuwon while the Rookie of the Year is named after Wilt Chamberlain.
The Sixth Man of the Year Award is now named after John Havlicek and the Most Improved trophy is known as the George Mikan Trophy.
Each trophy has also been redesigned and looks remarkably different and flashy.
The New NBA Awards
Each of the players recognized by these awards deserves every bit of praise that they get.
Olajuwon was a nine-time All-Defensive Team selection and he won Defensive Player of the Year twice.
Chamberlain won Rookie of the year and MVP.
Havlicek was an 11-time All-NBA selection and Mikan was considered the first superstar of the NBA.
Therefore, the league made the right choices by highlighting these icons.
The appearance of the awards is getting a mixed reaction from most people, with some saying they look rather bland and don’t catch the eye.
But those same people surely won’t be saying that when their favorite players earn some of these at the end of this season.
Who is going to claim these new-look prizes this year?
NEXT: The Pistons Got Some Very Bad News