NBA Sportsmanship Award

NBA Sportsmanship Award

The National Basketball Association's Sportsmanship Award is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1995–96 NBA season, to the player who most "exemplifies the ideals of sportsmanship on the court—ethical behavior, fair play and integrity". It is directly analogous to the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award, which has been awarded by the NBA's sister league, the WNBA, since that league's inception in 1997. Both the NBA and WNBA awards are nearly comparable to the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy of the National Hockey League (NHL), although unlike the NHL counterpart, neither award demands excellence of play.

Every year, each of the 30 NBA teams nominates one of its players to compete for this award. From these 30 nominees, six players, one from each NBA division, are selected by a panel as the divisional Sportsmanship Award winners. Finally at the end of the regular season, NBA players cast vote for this award, with eleven points given for each first-place vote, nine for second-place vote, seven points for third, five points for fourth, three points for fifth and one point for each sixth place vote received. The player with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award. The winner of this award is presented with the Joe Dumars Trophy, named after the former Detroit Pistons player and the award's inaugural recipient.

Since its inception, the award has been given to 13 different players. Three-time winner Grant Hill and two-time winner Jason Kidd are the only people to have received this honor more than once. Two teams have had multiple players winning the award: the San Antonio Spurs (three players) and the Seattle SuperSonics (two players). Joe Dumars and David Robinson are the only award winners to have been elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and Luol Deng is the only foreign NBA player to win the award.