NBA introduces Maurice Podoloff Trophy for best regular-season team originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Being the best regular-season team in the NBA will now come with a trophy.
The NBA on Tuesday introduced the new Maurice Podoloff Trophy, which will be given to the team that finishes with the top record in the regular season. The award is named after the league's first commissioner, Maurice Podoloff.
The trophy features a crystal ball that's cut into 82 panels, representing the length of the regular season. The crystal ball sits on a pedestal that "combines the structures of the Eastern Conference posts and Western conference rings."
Get Connecticut local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Connecticut newsletters.
The trophy that came with winning NBA MVP had been named after Podoloff up until last season. Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic took home the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the league's most outstanding player in 2020-21, but Podoloff's name was not attached to the honor when Jokic won the award again in 2021-22.
The NBA on Tuesday also unveiled redesigned hardware for the Joe Dumars Trophy (Sportsmanship Award), the Red Auerbach Trophy (Coach of the Year), the Twyman-Stokes Trophy (Teammate of the Year) and the NBA Executive of the Year Award.