I'm not a big NBA fan (long, long suffering Knicks fan). I don't know the history of the trophy and whether there was much debate when it was renamed. From Wiki:
The current design, depicting a basketball over a hoop and basket, was first awarded in 1977 still under its original name, which was changed in honor of former NBA commissioner Larry O'Brien who served from 1975 to 1984. |
Compared to the Stanley Cup (tradition back over 100 years) or the Lombardi Trophy (Lombardi being an outstanding 7 championship winning coach), the choice of Larry O'Brien to name the NBA trophy after seems underwhelming.
Did they not consider:
James Naismith (inventor of basketball)?
Red Auerbach (9 championships)?
Or even Bill Russell?
Larry O'Brien seems like a poor choice; what am I missing?
Wikipedia: Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy - (
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Don't get me wrong, 5 ain't bad but we're all about truthfulness and accuracy here at BBI
Plus he's from Massachusetts, born near the Hall of Fame, he's Irish and a Celtics guy. So he had a lot going for him. His genius was to tell professional athletes they shouldn't do drugs. Incredible brilliance that was. Thus the trophy is named after him.