You never could get this trophy away from MJ when he was playing, so why not give it to him now. In the show of ultimate respect, the NBA has announced that they have effectively immediately renamed and redesigned the MVP award after Michael Jordan, thus further cementing his legacy.
MJ was the only person who should have gotten this great honor.
Yes, I know that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar actually has won more MVP trophies than Jordan (Abdul-Jabhar: 6, Jordan: 5), but Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time. For all of Abdul-Jabbar’s phenomenal scoring stats, championship wins with multiple organization, being a member of one of the legendary NBA teams, and career longevity, he lacks one vitally important factor: he’s not Michael Jordan.
MJ transcends the sport of basketball that only one other player, LeBron James, has ever been able to do.
Everyone knows who Michael Jordan is and how great of a player he was during his dominating Bulls years throughout the mid 1980s and 1990s. MJ is an icon for basketball like Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and Jackie Robinson are to baseball, Wayne Gretzky is for hockey, Tom Brady is for football, and Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Pele, and Diego Maradona are for soccer/football.
That’s something Kareem Abdul-Jabbar just doesn’t have…just like everyone else (aside from LeBron James) who has played the sport.
Plus, Jordan played in an era with prime Larry Bird, prime Magic Johnson, prime Charles Barkley, prime Hakeem Olajawon, prime John Stockton, prime Isaiah Thomas, prime Clyde Drexler, prime Karl Malone, prime Syndney Moncrieff, an older Moses Malone, prime Patrick Ewing, a young Shaquielle O’Neal, young Kobe Bryant, young Allen Iverson, prime David Robinson, and many more.
Now, I’m not saying that Adbul-Jabbar didn’t play against great players when he won his 6 MVP awards as he had to face off against Dave Cowens, John Havlick, Walt Frazier, Wilt Chamberlin, Ben McAdoo, and Bob Lanier, but the 1980’s and 90’s are widely recognized as the two greatest decades of professional basketball. And there was no better player than MJ across those eras.
Nevertheless, as for the trophy design itself, I think it looks really nice.
Having a golden MJ (or the best representation of him) leaping to dunk a crystal basketball as he did thousands of times on the court with real basketballs is a fitting tribute to the greatness of Jordan, along with being a nice tribute to his most signature athletic/scoring talent. Michael Jordan will always be the greatest dunker of the basketball in NBA history, and I don’t think there will ever be someone who can challenge him for that title.
That’s a title Michael Jordan will have forever, just like how the MVP award will now be remember for the rest of NBA history as the Michael Jordan Trophy.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Creative Commons License Flicker/Author: Kip-koech) (License Notice: Creative Commons — Attribution 2.0 Generic — CC BY 2.0) (Disclaimer: Licensor may not endorse my use of image, only use of reproduction) (Michael Jordan | Kip-koech | Flickr)
