Kidd wins second Sportsmanship award in a row

NEW YORK (AFP) –

Jason Kidd of the New York Knicks in action on January 1, 2013 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Kidd won his second consecutive NBA Sportsmanship Award on Tuesday, becoming the first player to claim the honour in back-to-back seasons since its 1996 inception.

New York Knicks guard Jason Kidd won his second consecutive NBA Sportsmanship Award on Tuesday, becoming the first player to claim the honour in back-to-back seasons since its 1996 inception.

Kidd, who captured the award last year while playing for Dallas, becomes only the second multi-time winner of the Joe Dumars Trophy, the other being Grant Hill, who won the honour in 2005, 2008 and 2010.

Five other players were named NBA divisional sportsmanship winners, including Britain’s Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls in the Central division and Americans Mike Conley of Memphis, Jameer Nelson of Orlando, Stephen Curry of Golden State and Nick Collison of Oklahoma City.

Kidd received 91 of a possible 355 first-place votes and 2,474 total points in balloting from NBA players with Curry second on 2,261 and Deng third overall at 2,155.

The NBA will donate $10,000 to the Jason Kidd Foundation, aimed at improving educational opportunities for children, for his winning the sportsmanship award to reflect the ideals of fair play, ethical behaviour and integrity.