NBA Awards finalists unveiled

NEW YORK – The NBA today 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

James Harden, Houston Rockets

Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs

Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder

Kia NBA Rookie of the Year

Malcolm Brogdon, Milwaukee Bucks

Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers

Dario Saric, Philadelphia 76ers

Kia NBA Sixth Man Award

Eric Gordon, Houston Rockets

Andre Iguodala, Golden State Warriors

Lou Williams, Houston Rockets

Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year

Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz

Draymond Green,Golden State Warriors

Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs

Kia NBA Most Improved Player

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks

Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz

Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets

NBA Coach of the Year

Mike D’Antoni, Houston Rockets

Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs

Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat

Complete media voting results for each annual NBA award will be posted on NBA.com/official the night of the NBA Awards.

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 at NBA.com/nbaawards 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.