Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns was named the winner of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the 2005-06 season, the NBA announced today. He joins Hall of Famer Magic Johnson as the only point guards in league history to capture multiple MVP trophies and becomes one of only nine players to win the award in consecutive seasons.
The 10-year NBA veteran totaled 924 points, including 57 first place votes, from a panel of 125 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Players were awarded 10 points for each first-place vote, seven points for each second-place vote, five for third, three for fourth and one for each fifth-place vote received.
Rounding out the top five in voting for MVP were Cleveland’s LeBron James (688 points), Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki (544 points), the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant (483 points) and Detroit’s Chauncey Billups (430 points).
Nash averaged career highs in points (18.
, rebounds (4.2), minutes (35.5), field goal percentage (.512) and free throw percentage (.921). He posted 3.3 more points per game than last season, the second-largest scoring increase following an MVP season (Larry Bird, 4.5 ppg, 1984-85) in league history. Handing out a league-high 10.5 assists per game, Nash helped six of his teammates to career highs in scoring average.
The 6-3 guard joined Reggie Miller (1993-94), Mark Price (1988-89) and Bird (1986-87, 1987-88) as the only players in league history to shoot at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range (.439) and 90 percent from the free throw line and meet all the statistical minimums.
Nash guided the Suns to their second straight Pacific Division title and a league-high 108.4 points per game despite the absence of three of the team’s top five scorers from last season (Amare Stoudemire, Quentin Richardson and Joe Johnson). A Nash-led team has topped the league in scoring for five consecutive seasons, making Nash the first player to be part of the league’s highest scoring squad for five straight years since Alex English and Dan Issel led the Nuggets from 1980-85.
The NBA MVP trophy is named in honor of the late Maurice Podoloff, the first commissioner of the NBA who served from 1946 until his retirement in 1963.
