The NBA is doing a little extra to celebrate its award winners this season.
Beginning Tuesday, award winners from the 2024-25 season will wear a trophy patch in their respective season debuts.
Patches will be worn by all individual award winners, including MVP (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) and Clutch Player of the Year (Jalen Brunson), as well as team awards such as All-NBA, All-Defensive and All-Rookie.
Exclusive from me: NBA award winners will wear a special patch on their uniforms above the Nike swoosh for the first game of the 2025-26 season.
— Anthony Gharib (@GharibSports) October 20, 2025
The first-of-its-kind program is meant to highlight the NBA's trophies and give players their shine. More: https://t.co/4pXwKFwEKD…
For players such as Gilgeous-Alexander, who was named First Team All-NBA in addition to winning the league's MVP, individual awards will take precedence.
These patches are different from the Gold Logoman patches that will be worn by Gilgeous-Alexander, Evan Mobley (Defensive Player of the Year) and Stephon Castle (Rookie of the Year) in partnership with Topps and Fanatics.
All patches will be worn on the right side of the jerseys above the Nike swoosh.
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Following each game, the uniform will be auctioned by Sotheby's. According to ESPN, each player will also receive a uniform to keep.
In addition to the players, Cleveland Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson (Coach of the Year) and Oklahoma City Thunder president Sam Presti (Executive of the Year) will don lapel pins to celebrate their achievements.
"We want this to be a tradition, so when a player does win an award and he does have the opportunity to hold the trophy up or not, he knows that next season, I'm getting a patch," Christopher Arena, head of on-court and brand partnerships of the NBA, told ESPN. "Now, do I think at the first game of the year they're all gonna get out there and get a standing ovation? Maybe not. But they're gonna walk in that day, they're gonna see that trophy patch on their jersey and they're gonna remember that that's what they did and maybe it's motivation for that one night."
The 35 players who will wear patches are as follows:
Individual Honors
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - Most Valuable Player
- Evan Mobley - Defensive Player of the Year
- Payton Pritchard - Sixth Man of the Year
- Dyson Daniels - Most Improved Player
- Jalen Brunson - Clutch Player of the Year
- Steph Curry - Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year
- Jrue Holiday - Sportsmanship Award
First Team All-NBA
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Nikola Jokic
- Jayson Tatum
- Donovan Mitchell
Second Team All-NBA
- Steph Curry
- LeBron James
- Anthony Edwards
- Evan Mobley
- Jalen Brunson
Third Team All-NBA
- Tyrese Haliburton
- James Harden
- Jalen Williams
- Cade Cunningham
- Karl-Anthony Towns
First Team All-Defense
- Evan Mobley
- Dyson Daniels
- Luguentz Dort
- Draymond Green
- Amen Thompson
Second Team All-Defense
- Jalen Williams
- Ivica Zubac
- Jaren Jackson Jr.
- Toumani Camara
- Rudy Gobert
First Team All-Rookie
- Stephon Castle
- Zaccharie Risacher
- Jaylen Wells
- Zach Edey
- Alex Sarr
Second Team All-Rookie
- Kel-El Ware
- Matas Buzelis
- Yves Missi
- Donovan Clingan
- Bub Carrington
Matt Liberman is a reporter and video producer for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.