J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award

The J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since 1975 to a player, coach, or staff member who shows "outstanding service and dedication to the community."[1] The award is named in honor of James Walter Kennedy, the second commissioner (then president)[lower-alpha 1] of the NBA.[3] The winner is selected by the Pro Basketball Writers Association (PBWA). The PBWA represents writers for newspapers, magazines and internet services who cover the NBA on a regular basis. Members of the PBWA nominate players for the award, and then a vote is taken by approximately 150 PBWA members. The person with the highest point total wins the award.[3] The award is usually given to a person who made a substantial charitable contribution. For instance, Kevin Garnett received the award in 2006 after donating $1.2 million toward the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.[4]

National Basketball Association awards and honors
Championship
Individual awards
Honors

Since its inception, the award has been given to 34 different people. Only one season had joint winners—Michael Cooper and Rory Sparrow in the 1985–86 season. Vlade Divac of Yugoslavia (now Serbia), Dikembe Mutombo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pau Gasol of Spain, Canadians Steve Nash (born in South Africa), Samuel Dalembert (born in Haiti), and Luol Deng of the United Kingdom (born in South Sudan) are the only winners who were not born in the United States. J. J. Barea, the 2018 winner, was born in Puerto Rico, a territory whose native-born residents are U.S. citizens by birth. Mutombo is also the only player to win the award twice.[5] Frank Layden and Joe O'Toole were the only non-players to win the award. Layden, the 1983–84 award recipient, was the head coach for the Utah Jazz,[6] while O'Toole, the 1994–95 award recipient, was the athletic trainer for the Atlanta Hawks.[7] In 2017-18 season the award was given to Puerto Rican Player JJ Barea of the Dallas Mavericks.

Winners
Dikembe Mutombo is the only person to have won the award twice.
Magic Johnson won the award in the 1991–92 NBA season.
Steve Nash won the award in the 2006–07 NBA season.
LeBron James won the award in the 2016–17 season.
^ Denotes player who is still active in the NBA
* Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Player (X) Denotes the number of times the player has received the award
Season Winner Nationality Team
1974–75 Wes Unseld*  United States Washington Bullets
1975–76 Slick Watts  United States Seattle SuperSonics
1976–77 Dave Bing*  United States Washington Bullets
1977–78 Bob Lanier*  United States Detroit Pistons
1978–79 Calvin Murphy*  United States Houston Rockets
1979–80 Austin Carr  United States Cleveland Cavaliers
1980–81 Mike Glenn  United States New York Knicks
1981–82 Kent Benson  United States Detroit Pistons
1982–83 Julius Erving*  United States Philadelphia 76ers
1983–84 Frank Layden  United States Utah Jazz
1984–85 Dan Issel*  United States Denver Nuggets
1985–86[lower-alpha 2] Michael Cooper  United States Los Angeles Lakers
Rory Sparrow  United States New York Knicks
1986–87 Isiah Thomas*  United States Detroit Pistons
1987–88 Alex English*  United States Denver Nuggets
1988–89 Thurl Bailey  United States Utah Jazz
1989–90 Doc Rivers  United States Atlanta Hawks
1990–91 Kevin Johnson  United States Phoenix Suns
1991–92 Magic Johnson*  United States Los Angeles Lakers
1992–93 Terry Porter  United States Portland Trail Blazers
1993–94 Joe Dumars*  United States Detroit Pistons
1994–95 Joe O'Toole  United States Atlanta Hawks
1995–96 Chris Dudley  United States Portland Trail Blazers
1996–97 P. J. Brown  United States Miami Heat
1997–98 Steve Smith  United States Atlanta Hawks
1998–99 Brian Grant  United States Portland Trail Blazers
1999–00 Vlade Divac*  FR Yugoslavia Sacramento Kings
2000–01 Dikembe Mutombo*  Democratic Republic of the Congo Philadelphia 76ers
2001–02 Alonzo Mourning*  United States Miami Heat
2002–03 David Robinson*  United States San Antonio Spurs
2003–04 Reggie Miller*  United States Indiana Pacers
2004–05 Eric Snow  United States Cleveland Cavaliers
2005–06 Kevin Garnett*  United States Minnesota Timberwolves
2006–07 Steve Nash*  Canada Phoenix Suns
2007–08 Chauncey Billups  United States Detroit Pistons
2008–09 Dikembe Mutombo* (2)  Democratic Republic of the Congo Houston Rockets
2009–10 Samuel Dalembert  Canada Philadelphia 76ers
2010–11 Ron Artest[lower-alpha 3]  United States Los Angeles Lakers
2011–12 Pau Gasol^  Spain Los Angeles Lakers
2012–13 Kenneth Faried^  United States Denver Nuggets
2013–14 Luol Deng^  United Kingdom Cleveland Cavaliers
2014–15 Joakim Noah^  France Chicago Bulls
2015–16 Wayne Ellington^  United States Brooklyn Nets
2016–17 LeBron James^  United States Cleveland Cavaliers
2017–18 J.J. Barea^  Puerto Rico Dallas Mavericks
2018–19 Damian Lillard^  United States Portland Trail Blazers
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See also

Notes
  1. The official title of the position was NBA President until 1967 when it was changed to NBA Commissioner.[2]
  2. Denotes seasons in which joint winners were named
  3. Ron Artest changed his name to Metta World Peace on September 16, 2011.[8]

References
General
  • "Chauncey Billups Wins J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. May 5, 2008. Archived from the original on September 26, 2013. Retrieved July 21, 2008.
  • "J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on November 19, 2010. Retrieved July 24, 2008.
Specific
  1. "Pistons G Chauncey Billups wins sportsmanship award". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
  2. Mike Monroe. "The Commissioners". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2008.
  3. "Snow Named Winner of J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. June 26, 2007. Archived from the original on October 16, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2008.
  4. "Garnett wins Kennedy Citizenship Award". USA Today. Associated Press. October 31, 2006. Retrieved July 24, 2008.
  5. "Mutombo wins J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. April 23, 2009. Archived from the original on April 26, 2009. Retrieved April 23, 2009.
  6. "Frank Layden Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved July 24, 2008.
  7. "Smith receives NBA's award for community service". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. April 29, 1998. Retrieved July 22, 2008.
  8. "Artest's Name Change to Metta World Peace Approved". The New York Times. September 16, 2011. Retrieved September 16, 2011.

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