Jason Kidd wins Sportsmanship Award

The NBA announced today that Jason Kidd is this year’s recipient of the 2012-2013 NBA Sportsmanship Award. Kidd won this award last season as a member of the Dallas Mavericks.

Here’s more via NBA Press Release:

Kidd (Atlantic) was one of six divisional winners, which included Chicago’s Luol Deng (Central), Golden State’s Stephen Curry (Pacific), Memphis’ Mike Conley (Southwest), Oklahoma City’s Nick Collison (Northwest), and Orlando’s Jameer Nelson (Southeast).

Kidd received 91 first-place votes (2,474 total points) of a possible 355. The NBA will make a $10,000 donation on behalf of Kidd to The Jason Kidd Foundation, which is dedicated to improving education among the youth, by ensuring that kids of all ages have the tools needed through mentoring, tutoring and technology programs to succeed in life.

For the ninth consecutive year, NBA players voted on this award, with eleven points given for each first-place vote, nine points for each second-place vote, seven points for third, five points for fourth, three points for fifth and one point for each sixth-place vote received.  Each team nominated one of its players for the award. Former NBA players John Crotty, Antonio Davis, Eddie Johnson, Steve Smith, and Jay Williams selected the six divisional winners from a pool of 30 team nominees. Each team nominated one of its players for this award.

The NBA will make a $5,000 donation to each of the divisional winner’s charities of choice: the Luol Deng Foundation on behalf of Deng; Rapha House on behalf of Curry; Methodist Healthcare Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center on behalf of Conley; Care OKC on behalf of Collison; Pete and Jameer Nelson Foundation on behalf of Nelson.

The annual award reflects the ideals of sportsmanship -- ethical behavior, fair play and integrity -- in amateur and professional basketball, a key focus of the league’s NBA Cares program efforts. The trophy is named for former Detroit Pistons guard and Hall of Famer Joe Dumars, the award’s first recipient.

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Photo Credit: Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images