The NBA is rebranding its annual regular-season MVP award after Michael Jordan, the No. 1 player on ESPN's 75th anniversary team last season.
The league on Tuesday unveiled the newly designed Michael Jordan Trophy, as well as five other redesigned trophies named after the league's trail blazers, which will now be awarded to NBA end-of-season performance award winners.
The Michael Jordan Trophy will be awarded to the NBA's MVP
Jordan has won MVP five times in his 15-season career. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won more MVP trophies (6), and the league's Social Justice Champions Award is named after him.
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic will retroactively receive the first version of the new trophy after being named MVP last season.
In addition to the Jordan Trophy, other rebranded awards include:
Hakim Olajuwon Defensive Player of the Year trophy
Wilt Chamberlain Rookie of the Year Trophy
John Havlicek Trophy of the Sixth Man of the Year
George Mikan Trophy for the Most Improved Player
Olajuwon was named to the All-Defensive Team nine times and was named Defensive Player of the Year in 1993 and 1994. Chamberlain won Rookie of the Year and MVP in 1960, averaging 37.6 points per game in his first season. Havlicek has been named to the All-NBA Team 11 times, although he has come off the bench for several seasons, though his career predates the creation of the 1982-83 All-Sixth Man award. McCann is widely regarded as the league's No. 1 superstar, leading the Minneapolis Lakers to five championships in the 1940s and '50s.
The league also announced a new Key Player of the Year award, named after Jerry West, who has played in nine Finals and remains the only player to win the Finals MVP after losing the series.
The new trophy update is part of a multi-year project to reimagine many of the NBA's most important awards. Last season, the NBA unveiled the updated Lario Brian Championship Trophy, as well as a new Division Championship Trophy named after Oscar Robertson and Bob Cousy, and the Division Final MVP Trophy named after Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
"Our new series of trophies celebrates some of the greatest and most influential players in NBA history," NBA commissioner Adam Shawer said in a statement. "As we recognize the best performers in the league every season, we also honor the legends who embody these prestigious awards."
The Michael Jordan Trophy features an NBA player breaking a rock and reaching for the ultimate stone: crystal basketball. Previously, the league's MVP trophy was named after former commissioner Maurice Podolov, and now his name will be attached to a new trophy to recognize the team with the best record in the regular season.
According to a statement from the NBA, the new trophy has become brighter from bottom to top — "from original to refined," symbolizing the MVP's efforts and progress from entering the NBA to earning his highest personal honor.
Mark Smith, retired vice president of Nike's innovative special projects and Jordan brand designer, worked with Jordan to design the new trophy, which includes details of specific elements designed to honor Jordan's legacy. The trophy is 23.6 inches tall and represents Jordan's jersey number (23) and NBA championship count (6).
The trophy's pentagonal base is a tribute to Jordan's five league MVPs, and the crystal basketball at the top consists of 23 dots and is 1.23 inches in diameter.
With the exception of the Jordan Trophy, all of the new trophies were designed in collaboration with Victor Solomon, who also redesigned the NBA championship trophy last season. The trophies for each award are embedded in a 15-inch crystal mesh structure. The front is flat with a direct view of the icon, with etched details of the prize and recipient located at the bottom.
Solomon said in a statement: "In working with the NBA to reimagine the league's trophy trophy, our sole goal was to create a cohesive honor series that deserves to develop athletes with these honors. "These trophies recognize the hard work of players who reach the pinnacle of individual excellence, but also those who define this great NBA legend."