In recognition of his athleticism, excellence and commitment to the sport of basketball, America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) has selected to rebrand one of its most important awards while honouring arguably its most famous player, Michael Jordan.
Back in 1992, former NBA Commissioner, David Stern, described Jordan as:
“Simply the standard by which basketball excellence is measured.”
Now the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award has been renamed to celebrate his achievements and will be known as “The Michael Jordan Trophy”. The announcement was recently made by the league, that it would be rebranding the award to reflect, the player’s name. Over the course of his career, Jordan has won the MVP five times, each named after Maurice Podoloff, the basketball the league’s very first commissioner.
After 60 years of the award featuring Podoloff’s name, the association has decided it is time to refresh one of its most esteemed engraved awards.
The new Jordan trophy will have a height of 23.6 inches, and will weigh 23.6 pounds. These measurements are specific and denote Jordan’s jersey number (23) and six NBA titles claimed during his tenure with the league leading team Chicago Bulls.
The design of the award was approved by Jordan, who is currently chairman of the Charlotte Hornets. He requested that the trophy should not depict himself but symbolise an individual striving for excellence.
Professional designer for the Jordan Brand, Mark Smith, personally oversaw the trophy’s conception and commented that any person should be able to see themselves in the award and feel the players pursuit of excellence.
