Who keeps the NBA Championship trophy?
The Milwaukee Bucks made history by winning the NBA championship after 51 years, riding on historic performances from Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Greek Freak was well supported by the likes of Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton. Giannis ended up with a stat line of 50 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks, becoming only the seventh player in the history of the league to score at least 50 points in the NBA Finals.
The famous Larry O’Brien trophy is designed and manufactured by Tiffany and Co., and is made up of 15.5 points of sterling silver and vermeil with a 24 karat gold overlay. It is obviously the players and the coaching staff who work their hardest in winning the trophy. It will be of little surprise to most basketball fans that it is the championship team that owns and keeps possession of each trophy that is manufactured yearly. As a matter of fact, there is only one exception where the winning team in question did not end up keeping two NBA championship trophies that it won.
Who keeps possession of the NBA Championship trophy?
As is true in most major sports, each and every trophy that an NBA franchise wins is owned and kept by the team in question. Most major teams have assorted trophy cabinets that are kept in arenas and are generally available for the general public to view. Every year, Tiffany and Co. manufactures a new version of the Larry O’Brien trophy with the year and the winning team’s names engraved on it.
The trophy is then considered to be owned by the team in question and is generally displayed at the teams’ arenas. However, there is one single exception to this rule. Back in late 2017, long-term owner of the Houston Rockets Leslie Alexander to American billionaire and TV personality Tilman Fertitta. Alexander has owned the franchise since 1993, with the Houston Rockets having won the championship twice during this time.
As a matter of fact, the Rockets have, till date, won the league only twice, with the two titles coming in the 1993 and 94 seasons. Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon led a free-scoring team to back-to-back championships in the first few years of Alexander’s ownership. The American agreed to sell the team on the condition that he be allowed to keep the two original trophies.
As a result, the Houston Rockets commissioned Tiffany and Co. to create replacements for the two trophies, along with an alternate to the original 1993-94 trophy. This was because former Rockets’ Center Richard Petrsuka damaged the original during the celebrations back in 1994.
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