NBA Awards finalists unveiled
NEW YORK – The NBA today announced the finalists for six major awards that honor top performers from the 2016-17 regular season: Kia NBA Most Valuable Player, Kia NBA Rookie of the Year, Kia NBA Sixth Man Award, Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Kia NBA Most Improved Player and NBA Coach of the Year.
The winners for these awards will be revealed on the same night for the first time during the inaugural NBA Awards on TNT, which will be hosted by platinum-selling recording artist Drake on Monday, June 26 (9 p.m. ET) live from Basketball City in New York.
The finalists for the six awards, based on voting results from a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters, are below:
Kia NBA Most Valuable Player
James Harden, Houston Rockets
Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder
Kia NBA Rookie of the Year
Malcolm Brogdon, Milwaukee Bucks
Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
Dario Saric, Philadelphia 76ers
Kia NBA Sixth Man Award
Eric Gordon, Houston Rockets
Andre Iguodala, Golden State Warriors
Lou Williams, Houston Rockets
Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year
Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz
Draymond Green,Golden State Warriors
Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
Kia NBA Most Improved Player
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
NBA Coach of the Year
Mike D’Antoni, Houston Rockets
Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs
Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat
Complete media voting results for each annual NBA award will be posted on NBA.com/official the night of the NBA Awards.
In addition to the five Kia NBA Performance Awards and the NBA Coach of the Year, the NBA Awards will feature six new fan-voted award categories: Dunk of the Year, Best Style, Block of the Year, Assist of the Year, Game Winner of the Year and Top Performance of the Year. Fans can vote at NBA.com/nbaawards as well as on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The NBA Awards will also include the NBA All-Rookie Team, NBA All-Defensive Team, NBA Basketball Executive of the Year, Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award, NBA Sportsmanship Award and the Seasonlong NBA Cares Community Assist Award.
