| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| League | National Basketball Association |
| Awarded for | Player, coach or staff member who shows outstanding service and dedication to the community |
| History | |
| First award | 1975–76 |
| Most recent | C.J. McCollum New Orleans Pelicans |
TheJ. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award is an annualNational Basketball Association (NBA) award given to a player, coach, or staff member who showed "outstanding service and dedication to the community."[1]
The winner was selected by thePro Basketball Writers Association (PBWA), which representswriters for newspapers, magazines and internet services who cover the NBA on a regular basis. Members of the PBWA nominate players for the award, and then a vote was taken by approximately 150 PBWA members. The person with the highest point total wins the award.[2] The award was named in honor ofJames Walter Kennedy, the second commissioner (then president)[a] of the NBA.[2]
The award was usually given to a person who made a substantial charitable contribution. For example,Kevin Garnett received the award for the2005–06 season after donating $1.2 million toward theHurricane Katrina'srelief efforts.[4]
Since its inception, the award has been given to 34 different people. Only one season had joint winners—Michael Cooper andRory Sparrow in the1985–86 season.Vlade Divac ofYugoslavia (nowSerbia),Dikembe Mutombo of theDemocratic Republic of the Congo,Pau Gasol of Spain, CanadiansSteve Nash (born in South Africa),Samuel Dalembert (born inHaiti), andLuol Deng of the United Kingdom (born inSouth Sudan) are the only winners who were not born in the United States.J. J. Barea, the 2018 winner, was born inPuerto Rico, aterritory whose native-born residents are U.S. citizens by birth. Mutombo is also the only player to win the award twice.[5]Frank Layden and Joe O'Toole were the only non-players to win the award. Layden, the1983–84 award recipient, was the head coach for theUtah Jazz,[6] while O'Toole, the1994–95 award recipient, was theathletic trainer for theAtlanta Hawks.[7]




| ^ | Denotes player who is still active in the NBA |
| * | Elected to theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame |
| Player (#) | Denotes the number of times the player has received the award |
| Team (#) | Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won |
| Awards | Player | Team | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Philadelphia 76ers (1) /Houston Rockets (1) | 2001,2009 |