2017 NBA AWARDS FINALISTS UNVEILED

The NBA announced the finalists for six major awards that honor top performers from the 2016-17 regular season: Kia NBA Most Valuable Player, Kia NBA Rookie of the Year, Kia NBA Sixth Man Award, Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Kia NBA Most Improved Player and NBA Coach of the Year.

The winners for these awards will be revealed on the same night for the first time during the inaugural NBA Awards on TNT, which will be hosted by platinum-selling recording artist Drake on Monday, June 26 (9 p.m. ET) live from Basketball City in New York.

The finalists for the six awards, based on voting results from a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters, are below:

Kia NBA Most Valuable Player                              Kia NBA Rookie of the Year
James Harden, Houston Rockets                                Malcolm Brogdon, Milwaukee Bucks
Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs                           Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder             Dario Saric, Philadelphia 76ers

Kia NBA Sixth Man Award                                     Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year
Eric Gordon, Houston Rockets                                   Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz
Andre Iguodala, Golden State Warriors                      Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors
Lou Williams, Houston Rockets                                 Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs

Kia NBA Most Improved Player                             NBA Coach of the Year
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks             Mike D’Antoni, Houston Rockets
Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz                                             Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets                                   Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat

In addition to the five Kia NBA Performance Awards and the NBA Coach of the Year, the NBA Awards will feature six new fan-voted award categories: Dunk of the Year, Best Style, Block of the Year, Assist of the Year, Game Winner of the Year and Top Performance of the Year.  Fans can vote online as well as on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The NBA Awards will also include the NBA All-Rookie Team, NBA All-Defensive Team, NBA Basketball Executive of the Year, Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award, NBA Sportsmanship Award and the Seasonlong NBA Cares Community Assist Award.