Derek Bodner: Ben Simmons, on being runner up on Defensive Player of the Year voting: “Congrats to Rudy (Gobert). It is what it is. I’m not really concerned about individual awards. I want to win the championship.”
Awards Rumors
NBA announces finalists for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award
Marc J. Spears: Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony, Kings forward Harrison Barnes, Bucks guard Jrue Holiday, Sixers forward Tobias Harris and Warriors forward Juan Toscano-Anderson are the finalists for the inaugural Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award pic.twitter.com/8ItRmqrPGL
Stefan Bondy: Kevin Durant is now the betting favorite to win the Finals MVP, per betonline.ag pic.twitter.com/rfS0Ykmnc1
Jorge Sierra: MOST SEASONS RECEIVING MVP VOTES 🐐 1. LeBron James: 18 in 18 years 2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 17 in 20 years 6. Michael Jordan: 13 in 15 years 8. Kobe Bryant: 13 in 20 years 15. Wilt Chamberlain: 11 in 14 years
With the announcement of this year’s MVP award voting results, we can now safely say more history was made by the NBA’s elite crop of international players in 2020-21. With Nikola Jokic winning the award plus Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Rudy Gobert and Ben Simmons cracking the Top 12, we just had the highest percentage of MVP votes ever go to international players with 74.56 percent.
