who won the most mvp awards in nba history
NBA Most Valuable Player Award Every player who has won this award and has been eligible for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has been inducted. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the award a record six times.[3] Both Bill Russell and Michael Jordan won the award five times,[4] while Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James won the award four times. Russell and James are the only players to have won the award four times in five seasons.[5] Moses Malone, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson each won the award three times, while Bob Pettit, Karl Malone, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash and Stephen Curry have each won it twice.[4] Only two rookies have won the award: Wilt Chamberlain in the 1959–60 season and Wes Unseld in the 1968–69 season.[6] Hakeem Olajuwon of Nigeria,[b] Tim Duncan of the U.S. Virgin Islands,[c] Steve Nash of Canada[d] and Dirk Nowitzki of Germany are the only MVP winners considered "international players" by the NBA.[9]
Los Angeles Lakers The Lakers have retired eleven jersey numbers and an honorary microphone in honor of their players and broadcaster:[325][326][327][328]
Hart Memorial Trophy Wayne Gretzky won the award a record nine times during his career, eight consecutively. He has been named MVP more times than any other player in the history of the other three North American major professional leagues (Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association, and National Football League). Barry Bonds is second, having won the MVP award seven times in the MLB. Gretzky and his Edmonton Oilers teammate Mark Messier are the only players to win the Hart Trophy with more than one team.[3]
Michael Jordan Jordan again led the league in scoring during the 1987–88 season, averaging 35.0 ppg on 53.5% shooting[18] and won his first league MVP Award. He was also named the Defensive Player of the Year, as he had averaged 1.6 blocks and a league high 3.16 steals per game.[35] The Bulls finished 50–32,[30] and made it out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time in Jordan's career, as they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games.[36] However, the Bulls then lost in five games to the more experienced Detroit Pistons,[29] who were led by Isiah Thomas and a group of physical players known as the "Bad Boys".[37]