Jrue Holiday of the Boston Celtics has won the NBA’s sportsmanship award for the second time, making him the fifth player in league history to win that trophy in multiple years.
Holiday received about 34% of the first-place votes cast by nearly 400 current NBA players to decide the award winner.
Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen finished second, Dallas’ Kyrie Irving was third, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was fourth, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Dorian Finney-Smith was fifth and Orlando’s Franz Wagner was sixth.
“In my experience, some of the best competitors are those who pair a quiet confidence with humility, show respect for the competition with their own preparation and work, and have the stamina to navigate the ups and downs of a season with grit and perspective,” Celtics President Brad Stevens said. “There is no better example of this than Jrue. He is the ultimate teammate and sets a great example for those striving to compete with integrity. His game does his talking, and his impact, on and off the court, goes well beyond his game.”
Holiday joins four-time winner Mike Conley, three-time winner Grant Hill and two-time winners Jason Kidd and Kemba Walker as people to win the award more than once. Holiday will receive the Joe Dumars Trophy, named for the Basketball Hall of Famer, a two-time champion and the inaugural winner of the sportsmanship award after the 1995-96 season.
Dumars recently left his role as an NBA executive to return to his native Louisiana as executive vice president of basketball operations for the New Orleans Pelicans.
Each of the NBA’s 30 teams nominated one player for the sportsmanship award, and league executives narrowed that list down to six finalists — one from each division.
Holiday is also a three-time recipient of the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award and is a finalist again this season for the NBA’s Social Justice Champion Award. That award has been in existence for five years; Holiday has been a finalist in three of them.
He is a two-time All-Star, two-time NBA champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist and six-time All-Defensive team selection.
The sportsmanship award is the eighth award to be announced by the NBA since the end of the regular season. Golden State’s Stephen Curry won the Twyman-Stokes teammate of the year award and his Warriors teammate Draymond Green won the hustle award; those awards, like the sportsmanship one, are not selected by the panel of 100 global reporters and broadcasters who vote for other top NBA season honors.
Other award winners so far this season: Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels won most improved player, San Antonio’s Stephon Castle won rookie of the year, Cleveland’s Evan Mobley won defensive player of the year, New York’s Jalen Brunson won clutch player of the year and Boston’s Payton Pritchard won sixth man of the year.
Awards that will be announced later in the playoffs include MVP (either Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver’s Nikola Jokic or Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo), coach of the year (either Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff, Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson or Houston’s Ime Udoka), plus the All-NBA, All-Rookie and All-Defensive teams.
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