IBM Award

San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson won five IBM Awards.

The IBM Award was an award given out to National Basketball Association players from 1984 to 2002. The award was sponsored and calculated by technology company IBM and was determined by a computer formula, which measured a player's statistical contribution to his team. The player with the best contribution to his team in the league received the award. The first recipient was Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers, and the final recipient was Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs.

Most of the players who won the award have been forwards or centers; many finished near the top in rebounding the year they won. The award was given out nineteen times, six times to players on the San Antonio Spurs, three times each to players on the Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers, and twice each to players on the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons. David Robinson won five IBM Awards, Charles Barkley won three, and Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal won two each.

As of Tim Duncan's selection to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020, all IBM Award winners have been inducted. Jordan, Robinson, Barkley, Johnson, Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Karl Malone, and Hakeem Olajuwon also won NBA Most Valuable Player awards during their career; Robinson, O'Neal and Duncan won both awards in the same season. Jordan, Robinson, Olajuwon, Dennis Rodman and Dikembe Mutombo have won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award; Olajuwon is the only player to win both in the same season. Grant Hill is the only winner of the IBM Award who did not win an NBA MVP or Defensive Player of the Year Award sometime in his career. O'Neal is the only player to win an IBM Award and an NBA title in the same season; he did this in both the 1999–00 and 2000–01 NBA seasons. Jordan and Robinson are the only players to win the IBM Award during their respective rookie seasons, both also won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in those years. Two of the award winners were born outside the United States: Olajuwon (Nigeria) and Mutombo (Zaire). Duncan was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The award was discontinued in 2002. With Tim Duncan's retirement following the 2015–16 NBA season, there are no more IBM Award winners currently playing in the NBA.

The IBM Award was originally named the Pivotal Player Award and was sponsored by the Schick razor company.

Winners

Philadelphia 76ers forward Charles Barkley won three consecutive IBM Awards.

*	Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Player (#)	Denotes the number of times the player won the IBM Award
Team (#)	Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won

List of IBM Award Winners

Season	Player	Position	Nationality	Team
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname*	Guard	Template:USA	Los Angeles Lakers
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname*	Guard	Template:USA	Chicago Bulls
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname*	Forward	Template:USA	Philadelphia 76ers
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname* (2)	Forward	Template:USA	Philadelphia 76ers (2)
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname* (3)	Forward	Template:USA	Philadelphia 76ers (3)
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname* (2)	Guard	Template:USA	Chicago Bulls (2)
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname*	Center	Template:USA	San Antonio Spurs
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname* (2)	Center	Template:USA	San Antonio Spurs (2)
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname*	Forward	Template:USA	Detroit Pistons
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname*Template:Note label	Center	Template:NGATemplate:Ref label	Houston Rockets
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname* (3)	Center	Template:USA	San Antonio Spurs (3)
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname* (4)Template:Note label	Center	Template:USA	San Antonio Spurs (4)
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname* (5)	Center	Template:USA	San Antonio Spurs (5)
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname*	Forward	Template:USA	Detroit Pistons (2)
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname*	Forward	Template:USA	Utah Jazz
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname*	Center	Template:FlagTemplate:Ref label	Atlanta Hawks
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname* Template:Note label	Center	Template:USA	Los Angeles Lakers (2)
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname* (2)	Center	Template:USA	Los Angeles Lakers (3)
Template:Nbay	Template:Sortname* Template:Note labelTemplate:Note label	Forward-center	Template:USA	San Antonio Spurs (6)

Formula

The IBM Award was calculated with the following formula:

$\frac{(\mathrm{p}\mathrm{l}\mathrm{y}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{S}-\mathrm{p}\mathrm{l}\mathrm{y}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{F}\mathrm{G}\mathrm{A}+\mathrm{p}\mathrm{l}\mathrm{y}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{R}\mathrm{E}\mathrm{B}+\mathrm{p}\mathrm{l}\mathrm{y}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{A}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{T}+\mathrm{p}\mathrm{l}\mathrm{y}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{L}+\mathrm{p}\mathrm{l}\mathrm{y}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{B}\mathrm{L}\mathrm{K}-\mathrm{p}\mathrm{l}\mathrm{y}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{F}-\mathrm{p}\mathrm{l}\mathrm{y}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{O}+(\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{w}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{n}\mathrm{s}\times 10))\times 250}{\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{S}-\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{F}\mathrm{G}\mathrm{A}+\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{R}\mathrm{E}\mathrm{B}+\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{A}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{T}+\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{L}+\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{B}\mathrm{L}\mathrm{K}-\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{P}\mathrm{F}-\mathrm{t}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{T}\mathrm{O}}$

In the formula, plyr stands for player, PTS stands for points, FGA stands for field goal attempts, REB stands for rebounds, AST stands for assists, STL stands for steals, BLK stands for blocks, PF stands for personal fouls, and TO stands for turnovers. The award was given to the player with the highest total. Template:Hidden end

The formula bears some resemblance to player efficiency rating, and many winners of the IBM award were calculated to have finished at or near the top in player efficiency rating in their award-winning seasons.

Notes

• Template:Note label Won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in same season
• Template:Note label Won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in same season
• Template:Note label Hakeem Olajuwon was born in Nigeria, but became a naturalized United States citizen in 1993.
• Template:Note label Zaire was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May 1997.
• Template:Note label Tim Duncan was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but is a U.S. citizen and has played for the U.S. Olympic Team. Despite this, the NBA considers him an international player.

See also

• NBA records

References

General (for list of winners and their teams) Template:Refbegin

1. Template:Cite book
2. Template:Cite web

Specific Template:Reflist Template:IBM Award Template:Featured list Template:Authority control