On April 23, Beijing time, the NBA officially announced the winner of the Sportsmanship Award, and Nets player Mills won the award. The NBA Sportsmanship Awards are established from the season 95-96, and each season, 1 player from 30 NBA teams can compete for the award, and the criteria for selection include the ethical behavior of players on the field, fair play and integrity.
Today, Mills (An Australian) has won the 21-22 NBA Sportsmanship Award, becoming the second non-U.S. winner. The first non-American winner was British player Raul Deng, who also won the Sportsmanship Award in the 06-07 season. With the exception of Mills and Rolle Dun, all the other winners were American players, and the winners were awarded the Joe Dumas Trophy, who was the winner of the first NBA Sportsmanship Award.
In 2000, the NBA officially announced the trophy for the Sportsmanship Awards, named after Joe Dumas. Joe Dumas is a Pistons star who won two NBA championships in his career and was named MVP of the 1989 NBA Finals. Before Jordan started the Bull Dynasty, Joe Dumas was an obstacle to Jordan's victory, and he and his backcourt partner Smiling Assassin Isaiah Thomas caused Jordan a lot of trouble!
Speaking of Mills winning the Sportsmanship Award, when Mills won the award, the Nets officially posted a photo of Mills receiving the award for the first time and congratulated the excellent guard. As can be seen from the photos posted by the Nets official, Mills himself is very happy. After all, the award is voted by all the players in the NBA to select the final winner, and to be able to win the sportsmanship award, in a sense, it is also recognized by the opponents!
While the award was something to celebrate, Mills still can't afford to slacken off. After all, the Nets did a bit badly in the playoffs, trailing the Celtics 0-2 by a big score. As a member of the Nets, Mills scored only three points in the first round of G1 and only 5 points in the first round of G2. Mills needs to work harder if he wants to help the Nets turn things around, or it would be a shame to stop in the first round of the playoffs!
According to the schedule, the Nets' series G3 with the Celtics will be played at 7:30 a.m. on April 24. Hopefully, this sportsmanship award will give Mills more motivation to help the Nets pull back a city!