NBA MVP trophy renamed after Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan

The NBA has given the regular season Most Valuable Player (MVP) award a rebrand, naming it the "The Michael Jordan Trophy" after the legendary Chicago Bulls star. The renaming of the award is a fitting tribute to Michael Jordan, who won the MVP five times throughout his career.

The Michael Jordan Trophy 🐐

The NBA's MVP will now be awarded with The Michael Jordan Trophy, bearing the name of the greatest player of all time.

MJ was a 5x MVP in his career 🏆 pic.twitter.com/D16mCU2Uez
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) December 13, 2022

Fitting tribute

The unveiling of the brand-new MVP trophy came on Tuesday morning. Mark Smith, who previously held top positions at Nike and Jordan Brand, worked with Jordan himself on the trophy. The award pays tribute to His Airness and the long and arduous journey an NBA player makes toward becoming an MVP.

"Sculpting Michael's vision of his own pursuit of athletic achievement into this award has been the opportunity and challenge of a lifetime," Smith said in a statement.

"As we worked together on this project, it was very important to Michael that the figure not be a likeness of him, but instead that the recipient should be able to see himself in the award. For Michael, naming the award in his honor was recognition enough," Smith added.

There are numerous details in the brand-new trophy that honor Jordan. For one, the trophy is 23.6 inches tall, which refers to Jordan's jersey number and the number of championships he won. The trophy's base has five sides, which calls back to Jordan's five MVP awards, while the angle of the base is 15 degrees in honor of the 15 seasons that Jordan played in the Association.

Previously the Maurice Podoloff trophy

The previous MVP award was named after the NBA's first commissioner, Maurice Podoloff. As part of the Association's thrust to refresh its slate of awards, Podoloff's name is now associated with the trophy given to the team with the best regular season record.

The NBA is introducing a new award for the team with the best regular season record:

The Maurice Podoloff Trophy, named after the league's first commissioner. pic.twitter.com/DcPPADWxGA
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) December 6, 2022