Damian Lillard is being awarded the PBWA Magic Johnson Award for excellence in how he plays basketball on the court and how he deals with the media.
The Professional Basketball Writers Association (PBWA) Magic Johnson Award is an honor that is given to the player who best combines excellent play of basketball and cooperation with the media. This season, the Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard is receiving the award.
"“Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers has won the 2016-17 Magic Johnson Award, which honors the player who best combines excellence on the basketball court with cooperation and dignity in dealing with the media and the public.”"
Along with Lillard’s 27 points, 5.9 assists, and 4.9 rebounds per game, he is also very courteous with the media. Just watch any of his post-game interviews and you can see that he is calm in his demeanor and he answers every question thoughtfully.
The PBWA handed out the first Magic Johnson Award back in 2001 to then Milwaukee Buck Ray Allen. The organization created this award because they wanted to recognize NBA stars who treated the media well. The award is named after Magic Johnson because he, according to the organization, is the “ideal model for the award.”
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Though Lillard had a career season in points and field goal percentage (44.4 percent), the Blazers ended the season with the eighth seed in the Western Conference and were swept by the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. But even though his season probably didn’t end like how he wanted it to, Lillard still treated the media with respect and dignity.
Past winners of this award include the Warriors’ Steph Curry in 2015-16, the Chicago Bulls’ Pau Gasol in 2014-15, and the Dallas Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki in 2013-14, to name a few.