Beginning this season, the NBA will announce all of its major awards after the season on a televised awards show that will broadcast after the NBA Finals and NBA Draft. The first annual NBA Awards Show will be held in New York City and air on TNT June 26, the league announced on Tuesday.
Previously, the NBA announced its awards individually throughout the postseason, but now will make a one-night, presumably celebrity-studded event out of the honors. Awards include NBA Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player, Rookie of the Year and Coach of the Year.
The NHL has done so for more than a decade, holding its awards ceremony in Las Vegas since 2009. The league announces finalists during the postseason leading up to the awards show. The NFL has also held an awards show since 2012, airing the NFL Honors ceremony the Saturday before the Super Bowl.
NBA will announce MVP, other awards on NBA Awards Show on June 26 on TNT. First time all recipients will be honored on the same night.
— Brian Mahoney (@briancmahoney) November 1, 2016
An awards show is something the NBA has been discussing for the past two years, shortly after agreeing to its new TV deal with ESPN/ABC and Turner Sports. At the time, there were rumors that the league wanted to push the NBA Draft to July and package it with an awards show. But as USA Today reported, moving the Draft back that far caused concerns about playing havoc with the NBA’s offseason schedule, particularly the beginning of free agency.
The NBA did not indicate if it will emulate the NHL’s format for announcing finalists during the postseason. Previously, awards were announced in May during the first three rounds of the NBA Playoffs. With the league now set to hand out its honors a month later, the awards would arguably get more media attention and generate more discussion as anticipation builds leading up to the show.
However, waiting until late June could also set up some potentially awkward situations. For instance, if the NBA held this awards show after last season, Stephen Curry would have received his MVP award after the Golden State Warriors lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. Perhaps that will make for more intriguing television.
No word yet on where exactly the NBA Awards Show would be held, who would host, the number of former and current players (along with celebrities) that might be involved as presenters, and whether or not additional awards would be created for the event. Since the show will be on TNT, will this largely be an Inside the NBA production? There’s an entire NBA season to plan for what should become a notable event on the league calendar.
