NEWSLETTER
The NBA’s 75th Anniversary celebration continues with the announcement of two new postseason trophies.
The league shared on Thursday that the new trophies will be handed out to a Western and Eastern Conference Finals MVP. In the West, a player will receive The Earvin “Magic” Johnson Trophy, while the East winner will be honored with The Larry Bird Trophy.
As for the traditional hardware awarded to the winner of each conference, those two awards have also received new names. The Western Conference trophy will now be known as The Oscar Robertson trophy, whereas the East’s top team will receive The Bob Cousy Trophy.
The NBA today unveiled a lineup of reimagined trophies for the NBA postseason, including an evolution of the Larry O’Brien Trophy, awarded annually to the NBA champions.
More ➡️ https://t.co/YCpcNhwl3Q pic.twitter.com/DQrbPrvIjs
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 12, 2022
Those four awards will have a new sleek design, and the same can be said about the most prestigious honors: The Larry O’Brien Trophy and The Bill Russell Finals MVP trophy.
According to the latest press release, both the net and ball have moved forward slightly and both will be highlighted with elements of a sterling silver like never before. Most notably, however, is the change to the base. Two stacked plates will name the 75 NBA champions over the year, and adding the names of each winning team moving forward will become a tradition.
To be clear, each team will continue to receive it’s own trophy (this isn’t a Stanley Cup situation), but each new trophy will bear the previous winners.
The NBA released a video displaying the changes in more detail:
https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1524721092543365122?s=20&t=5whbWIbIbzcr4KaZG3-bJQ
The Bill Russell MVP trophy remains relatively unchanged, and the only main difference will be the hints of sterling silver on both the ball and net like the Larry O’Brien.
Here’s a complete look at the four new designs and two new trophies:
NBA will award conference finals MVPs with trophies named after Larry Bird and Magic Johnson
(via @NBA) pic.twitter.com/tbjRIwfEWe
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 12, 2022
The changes to the postseason awards come after vast alterations to the All-Star Weekend and annual seasonal awards, as well. While I think some of the latest changes miss the mark (especially the new ball-shaped MVP award), most updates appear well-designed.
