2017 NBA Awards Show to Include 6 Fan-Voted Awards Including Dunk of the Year
The inaugural NBA Awards show, which is set to air June 26 at 9 p.m. ET on TNT, will feature six new honors that will get decided by fan vote in addition to the league's standard awards, led by Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.
NBA fans will be able to vote for the new awards via NBA.com, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram leading up to the offseason showcase. Musician and noted basketball fan Drake has been tabbed to host the show.
Here's a look at the new honors and the 2016-17 contenders, per NBA.com:
| Dunk of the Year | Los Angeles Lakers' Larry Nance Jr. vs. Brooklyn; Minnesota's Zach LaVine vs. Phoenix; Oklahoma City's Victor Oladipo vs. Atlanta |
| Best Style | Cleveland's Iman Shumpert; Chicago's Dwyane Wade; Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook |
| Block of the Year | San Antonio's Kawhi Leonard vs. Houston; New York's Kristaps Porzingis vs. Brooklyn; Miami's Hassan Whiteside vs. Toronto |
| Assist of the Year | Golden State's Draymond Green to Stephen Curry to Kevin Durant; Denver's Nikola Jokic with no-look pass; Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Paul with wraparound pass |
| Game-Winner of the Year | Cleveland's Kyrie Irving vs. Golden State; Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook vs. Denver; Phoenix's Tyler Ulis vs. Boston |
| Top Performance of the Year | Phoenix's Devin Booker 70-point game vs. Boston; Houston's James Harden nets 53-16-17 triple-double vs. New York; Golden State's Klay Thompson scores 60 in three quarters vs. Indiana; Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook with most points in a triple-double, 57-13-11, vs. Orlando |
Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook, one of the top candidates in the MVP race, is a choice in three of the six categories. He's likely to walk away from the event at Basketball City in New York City with a lot of hardware for his trophy collection.
Westbrook and the Thunder were recently eliminated from the 2017 NBA playoffs by fellow MVP hopeful James Harden and the Houston Rockets. In his postgame press conference, he credited his teammates for a "good season" following the free-agent departure of Kevin Durant:
"I consider it a good season. From myself to every guy in that locker room did an amazing job all year long—Taj (Gibson) and Doug (McDermott), those guys coming in midway through the season and helping as well—you can be nothing but proud of them. I'm just happy to have an opportunity to be able to play with all these guys. They do an amazing job of making the game easy for me, do an amazing job of coming in every day and competing at a high level.
People counted us out at the start of the season. The guys deserve credit for coming in and making sure we were ready. The coaching staff, down the line, just everybody, our fans, for sticking with us.
"
No other player received more than one nomination for the upcoming fan vote.
Meanwhile, Dunk of the Year figures to receive plenty of attention. The contenders are highlighted by Minnesota Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine, a two-time Slam Dunk Contest winner who may have chased a three-peat if not for a torn ACL suffered a few weeks before All-Star Weekend.
Top Performance of the Year could be the most hotly contested race given some of the terrific individual efforts this season.
Between the seemingly effortless dominance of Westbrook and Harden, rising Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker's 70-point outing and Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson's unreal three quarters against the Indiana Pacers, it's a toss-up.
