Behold the trophy that will be presented to the winner of the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament MVP award:
The trophy is 15 inches tall (to represent the 15 teams in each conference, according to the league's press release) and 6.5 inches wide (to represent the six groups in the tournament and the five teams in each group), with a three-inch base (to represent the three groups in each conference) and two stems (to represent the two teams that make the championship game). Here it is next to the NBA Cup, which was unveiled in July and is more than three times as heavy (35 pounds for the NBA Cup, 11.5 for the MVP trophy):
Both trophies were designed by Tiffany & Co. and Victor Solomon. The gold is typical for NBA trophies, but the black coloring distinguishes this hardware compared to other trophies.
Some design details of the NBA Cup, courtesy of the league:
All the players on the championship team will receive medals, which were designed by Solomon:
And then there are the crystal basketballs, also designed by Solomon. These will be awarded to the five members of what the league is officially calling the In-Season Tournament All-Tournament Team (yes, that is a mouthful, and yes, we can all agree to simply call it the All-Tournament Team):
This is not exactly a conventional trophy, but it's not your average commemorative ball, either. Each of these weighs 20 pounds.
The knockout portion of the tournament begins on Monday, when the Boston Celtics host the Indiana Pacers and the Sacramento Kings host the New Orleans Pelicans. The quarterfinals continue on Tuesday with the New York Knicks visiting the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns visiting the Los Angeles Lakers. The winners of those games advance to the semifinals on Thursday in Las Vegas, where they'll compete for a chance to play in Saturday's championship game.
