NBA to introduce six new awards categories

Among the bigger and smaller revolutions that are interesting the NBA in the last few months, maybe it hasn’t been noticed the one regarding the individual seasonal awards. For the first time, in fact, the league decided to gather all the awards ceremony in a unique event, that will be held in New York City on June 26 - with the playoff ended and the trophy appointed - will be televised on TNT and hosted by Drake.

For this special occasion, all the individual awards for the NBA season will be assigned: the Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man Award, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, Coach of the Year and - of course - the so discussed NBA Most Valuable Player Award. The league did things properly and in fact, the show will have musical performances, the presence of all the biggest NBA superstars and the participation of all NBAonTNT protagonists, like Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal.

But there’s more, as yesterday six brand new categories of awards have been announced, specifically created for this event that will debut this year. In this case - differently than what happens for the other awards - the winners will be determined by fans’ vote, which will be able to express their preferences like they do for the All-Star Game, on NBA website and social media. 

These new categories comprehend all the different types of plays that we see every night on NBA parquets: like dunks, blocks, and assists. There also are three particular categories: the best game-winner, the best individual performance and - most of all - the coolest guy in the league, as a proof of how much fashion world is influencing the Association. Here’s the detail of all the new categories with the nominations: 

#DunkOfTheYear:
Lakers’ Larry Nance Jr. vs. Nets
Timberwolves’ Zach LaVine vs. Suns
Thunder’s Victor Oladipo vs. Hawks

#BestStyle:
Cavaliers’ Iman Shumpert
Bulls’ Dwyane Wade
Thunder’s Russell Westbrook

#BlockOfTheYear:
Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard vs. Rockets
Knicks’ Kristaps Porzingis vs. Nets
Heat’s Hassan Whiteside vs. Raptors

#GameWinnerOfTheYear:
Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving vs. Warriors
Thunder’s Russell Westbrook vs. Nuggets
Suns’ Tyler Ulis vs. Celtics

#TopPerformanceOfTheYear:
Suns’ Devin Booker 70-point game vs. Celtics
Rockets’ James Harden 53/16/17 performance vs. Knicks
Warriors’ Klay Thompson 60 points in three quarters vs. Pacers
Thunder’s Russell Westbrook 57/13/11 performance vs. Magic

#AssistOfTheYear:
Warriors’ Draymond Green to Steph Curry to Kevin Durant
Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic with no-look pass
Clippers’ Chris Paul with wraparound pass