The National Basketball Association All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (MVP) is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given to the player(s) voted best of the annual All-Star Game. The award was established in 1953 when NBA officials decided to designate an MVP for each year's game. The league also re-honored players from the previous two All-Star Games. Ed Macauley and Paul Arizin were selected as the 1951 and 1952 MVP winners respectively.[1] The voting is conducted by a panel of media members, who cast their vote after the conclusion of the game. The player(s) with the most votes or ties for the most votes wins the award.[2] No All-Star Game MVP was named in 1999 since the game was canceled due to the league's lockout.[3]
Bob Pettit and Kobe Bryant are the only two players to win the All-Star Game MVP four times. Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, and Shaquille O'Neal have each won the award three times, while Bob Cousy, Julius Erving, Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, Karl Malone, Allen Iverson, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook have all won the award twice. James' first All-Star MVP in 2006 made him the youngest to have ever won the award at the age of 21 years, 1 month. Kyrie Irving, winner of the 2014 All-Star Game MVP, is the second youngest at 21 years, 10 months. They're notable as being the two youngest to win the award, both as Cleveland Cavaliers.[4][5] Four of the games had joint winners—Elgin Baylor and Pettit in 1959, John Stockton and Malone in 1993, O'Neal and Tim Duncan in 2000, and O'Neal and Bryant in 2009. O'Neal became the first player in All-Star history to share two MVP awards. The Los Angeles Lakers have had eleven winners while the Boston Celtics have had eight. Duncan of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Irving of Australia are the only winners not born in the United States. Both Duncan and Irving[lower-alpha 1] are American citizens, but are considered "international" players by the NBA because they were not born in one of the fifty states or Washington, D.C.[6] No player trained entirely outside the U.S. has won the award; Irving lived in the U.S. since age two, and Duncan played U.S. college basketball at Wake Forest.
Bob Pettit (1958, 1959) and Russell Westbrook (2015, 2016) are the only players to win consecutive awards. Pettit (1956), Bob Cousy (1957), Wilt Chamberlain (1960), Bill Russell (1963), Oscar Robertson (1964), Willis Reed (1970), Dave Cowens (1973), Michael Jordan (1988, 1996, 1998), Magic Johnson (1990), Shaquille O'Neal (2000), and Allen Iverson (2001) all won the All-Star Game MVP and the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in the same season; Jordan is the only player to do this multiple times.[7] 13 players have won the award playing for the team that hosted the All-Star Game: Macauley (1951), Cousy (1957), Pettit (1958, 1962), Chamberlain (1960), Adrian Smith (1966), Rick Barry (1967), Jerry West (1972), Tom Chambers (1987), Jordan (1988), Karl Malone (1993), John Stockton (1993), O'Neal (2004, 2009) and Bryant (2011); Pettit and O'Neal did this multiple times. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has the distinction of playing in the most All-Star Games (18) without winning the All-Star Game MVP, while Adrian Smith won the MVP in his only All-Star Game.
Winners
Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain won the award in the 1960 NBA All-Star Game.
Hall of Famer Michael Jordan won the award three times in his career.
Shaquille O'Neal has won the award three times in his career.
Kobe Bryant has won the award four times in his career and is the all-time leader in points scored in NBA All-Star Game history.
LeBron James was the youngest player to ever win the award at 21 years and 51 days old.
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Kyrie Irving won the award in his second All-Star game in 2014
| ^ |
Denotes player who is still active in the NBA |
| * |
Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame |
| Player (X) |
Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the MVP award |
| Team (X) |
Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won |
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Multiple-time winners
| Player | Team | No. | Years |
| Pettit, BobBob Pettit | St. Louis Hawks | 4 | 1956, 1958, 1959, 1962 |
| Bryant, KobeKobe Bryant | Los Angeles Lakers | 2002, 2007, 2009, 2011 |
| Robertson, OscarOscar Robertson | Cincinnati Royals | 3 | 1961, 1964, 1969 |
| Jordan, MichaelMichael Jordan | Chicago Bulls | 1988, 1996, 1998 |
| O'Neal, ShaquilleShaquille O'Neal | Los Angeles Lakers
Phoenix Suns | 2000, 2004, 2009 |
| Cousy, BobBob Cousy | Boston Celtics | 2 | 1954, 1957 |
| Erving, JuliusJulius Erving | Philadelphia 76ers | 1977, 1983 |
| Thomas, IsiahIsiah Thomas | Detroit Pistons | 1984, 1986 |
| Malone, KarlKarl Malone | Utah Jazz | 1989, 1993 |
| Johnson, MagicMagic Johnson | Los Angeles Lakers | 1990, 1992 |
| Iverson, AllenAllen Iverson | Philadelphia 76ers | 2001, 2005 |
| James, LeBronLeBron James | Cleveland Cavaliers | 2006, 2008 |
| Westbrook, RussellRussell Westbrook | Oklahoma City Thunder | 2015, 2016 |
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Notes
- 1 2 Kyrie Irving was born in Australia to American parents who returned to the U.S. when he was two years old. He has dual U.S. and Australian citizenship, but has represented the United States internationally.[10]
- 1 2 3 4 Denotes All-Star Games in which joint winners were named
- ↑ Because Tim Duncan is a United States citizen by birth, as are all natives of the U.S. Virgin Islands,[8] he was able to play for the U.S. internationally.[9]
See also
References
- General
- Specific
- ↑ Steve Popper (February 5, 1998). "N.B.A. All-Star Weekend; Macauley's '51 All-Star Honors Came Late (but He's Not Complaining)". The New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2008.
- ↑ Howard-Cooper, Scott (February 12, 1990). "East Stars Put It Together, but Magic Has Hardware Pro basketball: Laker guard earns MVP in losing effort as rest of his West teammates are shut down, 130-113". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 15, 2016.
- 1 2 Steele, David (December 9, 1998). "NBA Drops All-Stars – What's Left? February game in Philly latest casualty of lockout". San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Communications Inc. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- ↑ "King-Sized Rally Propels East to Victory". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved April 25, 2009.
- ↑ Boyer, Mary (February 17, 2014). "Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star MVP Kyrie Irving has his moment - with advice from LeBron James". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
- ↑ "Bargnani becomes first European top NBA draft pick". People's Daily Online. June 29, 2006. Retrieved June 16, 2008.
- ↑ "NBA & ABA Most Valuable Player Award Winners". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved 2014-11-04.
- ↑ "Virgin Islands". CIA World Factbook. Retrieved August 12, 2008.
- ↑ "All-Time USA Basketball Men's Roster: D". USA Basketball. Retrieved June 16, 2008.
- ↑ Ward, Roy (July 3, 2013). "Irving a must for Boomers in Rio: Bogut". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on February 17, 2014.
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