Kyle Korver of the Atlanta Hawks has won the 2014-15 NBA Sportsmanship Award, the league announced on Wednesday.
From the official release:
“Korver (Southeast) was one of six divisional winners, joining the Toronto Raptors’ Amir Johnson (Atlantic), the Chicago Bulls’ Pau Gasol (Central), the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Nick Collison (Northwest), the Los Angeles Lakers’ Jeremy Lin (Pacific) and the New Orleans Pelicans’ Anthony Davis (Southwest). The NBA will make a $10,000 donation on behalf of Korver to his charity of choice, Helping Hand Rescue Mission.”
“Besides the donation to Helping Hand Rescue Mission on behalf of Korver, the NBA will make $5,000 donations to the other five divisional winners’ charities of choice: Blessings in a Backpack for Johnson; Gasol Foundation for Gasol; Special Care, Inc. for Collison; Partnership for the Advancement & Immersion of Refugees for Lin; and Audubon Nature Institute for Davis.
“The annual award reflects the ideals of sportsmanship -- ethical behavior, fair play and integrity -- in amateur and professional basketball, a key focus of the league’s NBA Cares program. The trophy is named for former Detroit Pistons guard and Hall of Famer Joe Dumars, the award’s first recipient, in 1995-96.”
Unlike the rest of the awards, the players are the ones who vote on this one. Here’s how it shook out:
Player, Team1st2nd3rd4th5th6thPoints
Kyle Korver, Atlanta 87 70 66 31 42 21 2,351
Anthony Davis, New Orleans 56 76 60 55 53 17 2,171
Pau Gasol, Chicago 66 54 58 54 39 46 2,051
Nick Collison, Oklahoma City 35 49 39 70 52 72 1,677
Amir Johnson, Toronto 45 35 35 57 62 83 1,609
Jeremy Lin, Los Angeles Lakers 28 33 59 50 69 78 1,553
Mike Conley of the Memphis Grizzlies received the award last season.