The NBA has always been known for being at the forefront of the American professional sports teams when it comes to innovation (social media utilization, All-Star weekend contests, jersey advertising, etc.). They have now done it again by becoming the first professional sports league to unveil their season ending awards show after the NBA Finals in June.
NBA will hold awards show on TNT after Finals in late June https://t.co/hPJtC65AIo pic.twitter.com/tzMzVlv0PE
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 1, 2016
Instead of having awards leak throughout the postseason like all other leagues, the NBA will own the narrative and monetize the interest in individual awards by making a spectacle of it for fans to enjoy. You will be able to see and feel the real emotion on player’s faces, which will make for great drama.
The only downside to holding this award show after the NBA Finals is the possibility of the playoffs marring the importance or relevance of a certain player winning an award for regular season performance.
The perfect example would be in 2007 when Dirk Nowitzki won the MVP but his 67-15 Mavericks team was eliminated in the first round by the upstart Golden State Warriors. It would have been awkward and uncomfortable for Dirk to accept the award in front of his peers, especially when the Spurs had just won the title and LeBron had put on one of the best postseason performances in recent memory.
Either way the potential oddity of the timing considering these are regular season awards will only add to the interest and drama for the show.
This is another genius idea by the NBA and should become another tradition for NBA fanatics.
