In team sports , a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or on a specific team. The purpose of the award is to recognize the contribution of the individual's efforts amongst a group effort, and to highlight the excellence, exemplariness, and/or outstandingness of a player's performance amidst the performance of their peers in question.
29-794: The EuroCup Basketball Finals MVP , previously also known as the ULEB Cup Finals MVP and the ULEB Eurocup Finals MVP, is the yearly MVP award of the finals of the 2nd-tier level professional basketball league in Europe , the EuroCup Basketball League . The EuroCup Basketball League is the European-wide professional basketball league that is one tier level below the top-tier EuroLeague . The EuroCup Basketball Finals MVP award began with
58-503: A clear-cut definition of what "most valuable" means, instead leaving the judgment to the individual voters. In the NBA , the protocol for selecting the MVP has shifted throughout the year. Through the 1979–80 season, the basketball players themselves comprised the MVP voting bloc up. Since the start of the 1980 NBA season, a panel of broadcasters and sportswriters are brought together to vote on
87-400: A team, referring to the player whose team contribution is greatest amongst their teammates. In many sports, MVP awards are presented for a specific match—in other words, a player of the match award. This is particularly true for high profile matches like championship games. For example, during a finals championship series, a 'Finals MVP' award would be bestowed upon the most valuable player in
116-545: A two-round voting process. In first round voting, players and coaches will vote to determine nominees for each award. In second round voting, Media, PLL Front Office, and PLL Lacrosse Advisory Board vote on nominees to determine winners. Award winners are announced during the Awards Ceremony at the end of the season. In the NLL , the MVP award (and all other awards) nominees are voted on by select media. Each ballot allowed
145-440: Is chosen by a panel assembled by the league's sponsors consisting of members of "football's governing bodies, the media and fans,” and is announced in the second or third week of May. The concept of the 'most valuable player' is discussed within the field of philosophy of sport . Philosophers Stephen Kershnar and Neil Feit argue that the concept of the MVP is a fundamentally vague concept, but still valuable in that it promotes
174-421: Is that the MVP is not be conflated with the most winningest player. Although the two are usually somewhat correlated, there are several (albeit rare) prime counterexamples. For instance, in professional basketball , Kareem-Abdul Jabbar won the 1975–76 MVP award even though his team did not qualify for the postseason. Additionally, several other NBA players in history have been awarded MVP, and proceeded to lose in
203-589: Is the only defenceman to win the Pearson/Lindsay. Lafleur, Lemieux (x2) and Gretzky (x5), Ovechkin and McDavid have also all led the league in goal scoring in the years they won the Hart, Pearson/Lindsay and Art Ross; though only Ovechkin and McDavid won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy which was introduced in 1998–99. Brett Hull, Ovechkin and Auston Matthews have also led the league in goals in years they won
232-724: Is to be decided by the individual who received the most 1st Place votes, followed by the number of 2nd place votes, and so on, until a winner is decided. MVP is more commonly referred to in association football as "Player of the Season.” In the FIFA World Cup , the award is called the Golden Ball and is chosen by the FIFA Technical Study Group. In the Premier League , Player of the Season
261-538: The Art Ross Trophy for the same season a combined 23 times and completed a Hart-Pearson/Lindsay-Art Ross sweep: Esposito, Lafleur (x2), Gretzky (x5), Lemieux (x3), Jagr, St. Louis, Crosby (x2), Ovechkin, Malkin, Kane, McDavid (x3), Kucherov and Draisaitl. Hasek and Price are the only goaltenders to win the Hart and Pearson/Lindsay in the same year. Bobby Orr won the Norris , Pearson and Art Ross in 1974-75 and
290-1031: The Edmonton Oilers have won the award 11 times, while members of the Pittsburgh Penguins won the award ten times. The Lindsay Award is considered to be the companion of the Hart Memorial Trophy —the trophies have been won by the same player for the same season 35 times (of the 52 seasons both have been awarded) by 22 players: Bobby Clarke , Phil Esposito , Guy Lafleur (x2), Gretzky (x5), Mario Lemieux (x3), Mark Messier (x2), Brett Hull , Sergei Fedorov , Eric Lindros , Dominik Hasek (x2), Jaromir Jagr , Joe Sakic , Martin St. Louis , Sidney Crosby (x3), Alexander Ovechkin (x2), Evgeni Malkin , Carey Price , Patrick Kane , Connor McDavid (x3), Nikita Kucherov , Leon Draisaitl , and Auston Matthews . 13 of those players have also won
319-476: The EuroCup Basketball 2002–03 season . Dejan Tomašević was the first winner of the award. Most valuable player The term can have different connotations depending on the context in which it is used. A 'League MVP' is the most valuable player in an entire league, and refers to the player whose performance is most excellent in the league. Similarly, a "Team MVP" is the most valuable player on
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#1732801803550348-717: The Lester B. Pearson Award , is awarded annually to the National Hockey League 's most outstanding player in the regular season as judged by the members of the NHL Players' Association . First awarded in 1971, it is a companion to the Hart Memorial Trophy , which is awarded to the League's Most Valuable Player, as judged by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association . The award
377-555: The NFL , the MVP award is voted upon by a panel of 50 sportswriters at the end of the regular season , before the playoffs , though the results are not announced to the public until the day before the Super Bowl . The sportswriters chosen regularly follow the NFL, and remain mostly consistent from year to year. They are chosen based on expertise and are independent of the league itself. In
406-554: The NHL , the MVP award voting is conducted at the end of the regular season by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association , and each individual voter ranks their top five candidates on a 10–7–5–3–1 point(s) system. Three finalists are named and the trophy is awarded at the NHL Awards ceremony after the playoffs. In the PLL , the MVP award (and all other awards) are selected by
435-561: The media and/or coaches . The specifics of this process varies across leagues. Some prominent examples of sports that conduct MVP awards are baseball, basketball, football, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, handball and rugby. In MLB , MVP voting takes place before the postseason , but the results are not announced until after the World Series . The BBWAA began by polling three writers in each league city in 1938, reducing that number to two per league city in 1961. The BBWAA does not offer
464-714: The postseason . The term is most common in the United States and Canada . In most other countries around the world, " player of the year " is used for a season-spanning award and " player of the match " for individual games. In Australia, Australian rules football clubs and leagues use the term " best and fairest ", while those playing rugby league use "player of the year", such as the Dally M Medal . The first most valuable player award given in North American sports can be traced back to professional baseball in
493-555: The 1930s baseball players were only permitted to win the award one time which limited the number of times Babe Ruth could win. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the NBA MVP award six times, and Michael Jordan won the award five times. Peyton Manning won the NFL MVP five times. Only five other players have won more than two NFL MVP awards: Jim Brown , Johnny Unitas , Brett Favre , Tom Brady , and Aaron Rodgers . An important distinction
522-740: The 1971 Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award despite having lost the Super Bowl V . In 1960, Bobby Richardson won the World Series MVP Award, but lost the World Series. In ice hockey, three players, Al Rollins in 1954, Andy Bathgate in 1959 and Mario Lemieux in 1988 each won the NHL's oldest MVP award, the Hart Trophy , with Lemieux also receiving the Ted Lindsay Award (introduced in 1970–71 and voted on by
551-694: The Chicago Cubs. The award was discontinued in 1955, after it failed to result in higher car sales. From 1922 to 1928 in the American League and from 1924 to 1929 in the National League, an MVP award was given to "the baseball player who is of the greatest all-around service to his club". Prior winners were not eligible to win the MVP award again during this time. The MVP award, as it is known today in Major League Baseball,
580-465: The MVP award. Every person on the panel casts a vote for their first-place selection all the way to their fifth. A first-place vote nets a player 10 points while a second is worth seven, a third worth five, a fourth worth three, and a fifth worth one. At the end of the voting, the player with the most overall points wins the award. The current MVP is Nikola Jokić from the Denver Nuggets . In
609-676: The National Hockey League Players' Association announced that the award would be reintroduced as the Ted Lindsay Award to honor Hall of Famer Ted Lindsay for his skill, tenacity, leadership, and role in establishing the original Players' Association. The voting for the trophy is conducted at the end of the regular season by the members of the NHL Players Association . Wayne Gretzky won the award five times during his career. Members of
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#1732801803550638-428: The active discussion of different types of excellence found within a specific sport and the weight to be assigned these types, thus leading to a gain for the discussants. Stephen Kershnar termed this vagueness the 'Most Valuable Player Problem'. He offered a solution to the problem, but later recanted it conceding that the problem remains unsolved. Ted Lindsay Award The Ted Lindsay Award , formerly known as
667-469: The early 1900s. A group of sportswriters met after the 1911 baseball season to determine the "most important and useful players to the club and to the league". These athletes would receive The Chalmers Award, named for Hugh Chalmers, a car manufacturer seeking to increase sales of his Chalmers Model 30 automobiles. The first recipients were Ty Cobb, playing for the Detroit Tigers, and Frank Schulte of
696-450: The finals game(s). Ice hockey player, Wayne Gretzky , has been named MVP more times than any player in the history of the other three North American major professional leagues ( MLB , NBA , and NFL ). He won the award a record nine times during his career, eight consecutively. Barry Bonds is second, having won the MVP award seven times in the National League of Major League Baseball (The American League also awards an MVP), although until
725-456: The first round of the postseason. In another instance in professional basketball, Jerry West was awarded the 1969 NBA Finals MVP Award , despite having lost the finals. In the sport of professional football , Johnny Unitas won the 1967 MVP award, despite not qualifying for the playoffs. Likewise, O. J. Simpson won the 1973 MVP award, despite not qualifying for the playoffs. Similar to Jerry West in basketball, Chuck Howley in football won
754-610: The league's players), but did not make the playoffs. Also, Reggie Leach won the 1976 Conn Smythe Trophy , presented to the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup playoffs , while breaking the league record for most playoff goals, but lost the finals . In baseball history, several MVPs have not made the playoffs, and in 2021, none of the six MVP finalists in Major League Baseball played for teams that reached
783-411: The voting members to rank their top five choices for the award. Each individual voter ranks their top five candidates on a 10–7–5–3–1 point(s) system (similar to the NHL system). The top three vote accumulating individuals will be announced as the finalists for the award. The finalist who accumulated the most points after the voting period ended will be the award winner. In the case of a tie, the tiebreaker
812-456: Was first established in 1931. Generally, MVP awards are given at the conclusion of a multi-step process. In most professional sports leagues, the overall pool of players is initially narrowed down to a list of nominees, called finalists, forming a group from which the individual winner is decided based on regular season performance. This process is typically performing by way of a vote , wherein voters are usually either other players, members of
841-544: Was renamed in 2010 after Ted Lindsay of the Detroit Red Wings . The award was first handed out at the conclusion of the 1970–71 NHL season . It was named in honour of Lester B. Pearson , who was Prime Minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968, the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize , and a former player and coach for the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's ice hockey team . On April 29, 2010,
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