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Kyle Korver Wins 2014-15 NBA Sportsmanship Award

NEW YORK -– Kyle Korver of the Atlanta Hawks is the recipient of the Joe Dumars Trophy presented to the 2014-15 NBA Sportsmanship Award winner, the NBA announced today. Korver becomes the first Hawks player to receive the honor.

Korver (Southeast) was one of six divisional winners, joining the Toronto Raptors’ Amir Johnson (Atlantic), the Chicago Bulls’ Pau Gasol (Central), the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Nick Collison (Northwest), the Los Angeles Lakers’ Jeremy Lin (Pacific) and the New Orleans Pelicans’ Anthony Davis (Southwest). The NBA will make a $10,000 donation on behalf of Korver to his charity of choice,Helping Hand Rescue Mission.

Korver received 87 of 317 first-place votes and 2,351 total points from NBA players, who voted on the award for the 11th consecutive year. The six finalists were awarded 11 points for each first-place vote, nine points for each second-place vote, seven points for each third-place vote, five points for each fourth-place vote, three points for each fifth-place vote and one point for each sixth-place vote.

Each team nominated one of its players for the award. The six divisional winners from among 30 team nominees were selected by Mike Bantom, NBA Executive Vice President, Referee Operations; Rod Thorn, NBA President, Basketball Operations; Kiki VanDeWeghe, NBA Senior Vice President, Basketball Operations; and NBA Cares Ambassadors Jason Collins and Bob Lanier, a Hall of Fame center.

Besides the donation to Helping Hand Rescue Mission on behalf of Korver, the NBA will make $5,000 donations to the other five divisional winners’ charities of choice: Blessings in a Backpack for Johnson; Gasol Foundation for Gasol; Special Care, Inc. for Collison; Partnership for the Advancement & Immersion of Refugees for Lin; and Audubon Nature Institute for Davis.

The annual award reflects the ideals of sportsmanship -- ethical behavior, fair play and integrity -- in amateur and professional basketball, a key focus of the league’s NBA Cares program. The trophy is named for former Detroit Pistons guard and Hall of Famer Joe Dumars, the award’s first recipient, in 1995-96.