{"id":619362,"date":"2026-04-21T18:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/619362\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T18:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:30:13","slug":"the-2026-nba-awards-everything-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/619362\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2026 NBA Awards: Everything to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA<\/a> regular season is over and the 2026 NBA Playoffs<\/a> are underway, which means we’re just weeks away from crowning a new champion. It also means it’s time for the league to start handing out hardware for the year’s best players.<\/p>\n

How to Watch<\/p>\n

Watch NBA on NBC on NBC<\/a> and streaming on Peacock<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The NBA<\/a> recently announced the finalists for the seven major awards handed out to individual players each season, and this week they’ve begun distributing the trophies. It’ll all culminate in the coming weeks with the reveal of the 2025-2026 league Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. But when can you expect these announcements, and who’s up for each award? Let’s take a closer look.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0Full 2026 NBA Playoffs Round 1 Schedule: Teams, Dates & More<\/a><\/p>\n

What are the NBA Awards? And which awards does the NBA give out each season?<\/p>\n

There are seven major NBA yearly awards — not counting individual series MVP awards, coach awards, and other special honors — awarded by the NBA at the end of each season, all of them celebrating a different aspect of league play. The 2026 NBA Awards are:<\/p>\n

Defensive Player of the YearClutch Player of the YearSportsmanship AwardSixth Man of the YearMost Improved PlayerRookie of the YearMost Valuable Player<\/p>\n

The NBA announced the finalists for each award on April 19, and will award them all in the coming days and weeks. Defensive Player of the Year was announced on April 20, with more announcements arriving in the coming days.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0Players to Watch in the 2026 NBA Playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n

Who won Defensive Player of the Year?<\/p>\n

The 2026 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, announced on April 20, is Victor Wembanyama<\/a> of the San Antonio Spurs. In his second season in the league, Wembanyama led the Spurs to a second-place finish in the Western Conference, and as the Playoffs progress they remain a major NBA Finals contender. Wembanyama is also one of three finalists for the 2026 Most Valuable Player Award.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When will the rest of the NBA Awards be announced?<\/p>\n

With its announcement on April 19, the NBA also provided a timetable for revealing the winners of the first five awards in this season’s batch. Here are the key dates:<\/p>\n

April 20: Defensive Player of the Year (Wembanyama)April 21: Clutch Player of the Year (announced at 6 p.m. ET live on Peacock<\/a>)April 22: Sixth Man of the YearApril 23: Sportsmanship AwardApril 24: Most Improved Player<\/p>\n

When does the 2026 NBA MVP award get announced?<\/p>\n

The remaining awards will be announced in the following weeks, but when does MVP get announced? The NBA hasn’t offered a clear date, but last year’s winner, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a>, was named MVP in late May, early in the Western Conference Finals, so expect some news closer to that date.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0How Do the NBA Playoffs & Play-In Tournament Work in 2026? What to Know<\/a><\/p>\n

Who are the Finalists for all of the NBA player awards in 2026?<\/p>\n

So, which players are still up for the big awards? Let’s take a closer look:<\/p>\n

Defensive Player of the YearVictor Wembanyama – San Antonio Spurs (winner)Chet Holmgren – Oklahoma City ThunderAusar Thompson – Detroit PistonsRookie of the YearCooper Flagg – Dallas MavericksKon Knueppel – Charlotte HornetsVJ Edgecombe – Philadelphia 76ersSixth Man of the YearKeldon Johnson – San Antonio SpursJamie Jacquez Jr. – Miami HeatTim Hardaway Jr. – Denver NuggetsMost Improved PlayerNickeil Walker-Alexander – Atlanta HawksDeni Avdija – Portland Trail BlazersJalen Duren – Detroit PistonsClutch Player of the YearAnthony Edwards – Minnesota TimberwolvesJamal Murray – Denver NuggetsShai Gilgeous-Alexander – Oklahoma City ThunderSportsmanship AwardBam Adebayo – Miami HeatHarrison Barnes – San Antonio SpursShai Gilgeous-Alexander – Oklahoma City ThunderAl Horford – Golden State WarriorsT.J. McConnell – Indiana PacersDerrick White – Boston CelticsMVP AwardNikola Jokic – Denver NuggetsShai Gilgeous-Alexander – Oklahoma City ThunderVictor Wembanyama – San Antonio Spurs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA regular season is over and the 2026 NBA Playoffs are underway, which means we’re just weeks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[461,49,48,459,17871,17228,44,5250,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-619362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-nba-on-nbc","13":"tag-nbc-sports","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-peacock","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}