OKLAHOMA CITY, May 6, 2014 – Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant was named the winner of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the 2013-14 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player, the NBA announced today.
Durant earned the honor after leading the Thunder to a fourth consecutive Northwest Division title and the second best record in the NBA (59-23). It is the first MVP award for Durant, who captured his fourth scoring title in five seasons, joining Wilt Chamberlain, George Gervin and Michael Jordan as the only players to accomplish the feat.
Durant totaled 1,232 points, including 119 first-place votes, from a panel of 124 voters that consisted of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada as well as an NBA.com MVP fan vote.
During the 2013-14 season, Durant averaged a career-best 32.0 points to go with 7.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists, also a career high.
In a streak that spanned more than three months, Durant scored 25 of more points in 41 consecutive games, becoming the only player in the last 50 years to accomplish such a feat. The 41 game streak is the third-longest streak (single season) in NBA history, behind Wilt Chamberlain, who did it in all 80 games during the 1961-62 season, and Oscar Robertson, who recorded 25-plus in 46 straight games during the 1963-64 season.
A five-time All-Star, Durant was named the Kia Western Conference Player of the Month four times (October-November, December, January and February) while also receiving Player of the Week honors on six occasions (Dec. 2, Dec. 30, Jan. 20, Jan. 27, Feb. 10 and Mar. 24).
This past week, Durant helped lead the Thunder past the Memphis Grizzlies in the opening round of the 2014 playoffs after recording 33-points during the Thunder’s Game 7 victory. Oklahoma City is now the only Western Conference team to advance past the first round in each of the last four seasons.
For the fifth straight season, the NBA and Kia Motors America gave fans the opportunity to submit their votes by ranking their top five choices through a dedicated Web page on NBA.com. The fan vote counted as one vote and was compiled with the 124 media votes to determine the winner. Players were awarded 10 points for each first-place vote, seven points for each second-place vote, five for each third-place vote, three for each fourth-place vote and one for each fifth-place vote received.
The NBA MVP trophy is named in honor of the late Maurice Podoloff, the first commissioner of the NBA who served from 1946 until his retirement in 1963.
Below are the voting results for the 2013-14 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award. The balloting was tabulated by the independent accounting firm of Ernst and Young LLP.
2013-14 KIA NBA MOST VALUABLE PLAYER AWARD RESULTS