Milwaukee Bucks Guard Jrue Holiday wins big time for the 2020-21 NBA Sportsmanship Award as he received the Joe Dumars Trophy.
The awarding ceremony’s goal is to honor players who made a huge impact during the season and shows sportsmanship on the court.
Each NBA team has nominated their very own player for the award. From the list of 30 players, NBA executives have selected 1 finalist to be nominated from each of the six divisions, and from the list of 6 finalists, NBA players will select. They are almost 350 players in the NBA and their votes will be deemed confidential.
The other nominees for the NBA Sportsmanship Award are Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Harrison Barnes (Sacramento Kings), Josh Okogie (Minnesota Timberwolves), Kemba Walker (Boston Celtics), and Derrick White (San Antonio Spurs).
Among the 6 of them, Holiday earned 130 out of 343 first-place votes, garnering a total of 2,752 points. It is also noted that this is Holiday’s first NBA Sportsmanship award despite his 12 years of experience in the NBA. During the last season, he also won the 2019-20 Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award for being a mentor and an on-and-off leader to other NBA players.
Kemba Walker came next with 74 first-place votes, which earned him 2,474 points, and Bam Adebayo has 48 first-place votes with 2,199 votes.
The NBA Sportsmanship Award is to commemorate the Basketball Hall of Famer Joe Dumar, as he was a 6-time NBA All-star and two-time NBA champion. He also played 14 seasons and won the 1995-96 Sportsmanship Award.