Milwaukee Bucks’ Jrue Holiday wins NBA Sportsmanship Award

Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday was named the NBA Joe Dumars Sportsmanship Award winner on Friday afternoon. Head coach Mike Budenholzer presented the trophy during a team meeting.

Holiday wins the award for the first time in his career and is the first Bucks player to win the award. He received 2,752 total points, including 130 out of 343 first-place votes. You can find the complete voting results here.

"“It means a lot,” Holiday said. “Just knowing that it came from the players, the guys that go through this with me and put their bodies on the line, train in the offseason, it means a lot.”"

Holiday is a 12-year veteran who was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 24 as part of a four-team swap. This season he averaged 17.7 points, 6.1 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.6 steals. He also shot a career-best 50.3 percent from the field.

"“It’s hard to put all the adjectives into one sentence,” Budenholzer said. “He’s just thoughtful, considerate, deep thinking, but plays the game the right away and has a toughness and a realness about him. … Great poise. Great character. He’s all about winning. … The guy just makes a difference, and players around the league recognize that and appreciate that and have honored him. It’s special.”"

The award is given to the NBA player who best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the court. Each team nominates a player, and a panel of executives selects a finalist from each division. Then current NBA players choose the winner.

Holiday also won the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award in 2019-20 as a member of the New Orleans Pelicans. The award recognizes the player deemed the best teammate based on selfless play, on- and off-court leadership as a mentor and role model to other NBA players, and commitment and dedication to team.

The Milwaukee Bucks guard has twice been named to the NBA All-Defensive Team (2017-18, 2018-19) and played in the 2013 NBA All-Star game.

Milwaukee finished the regular season with a 46-26 regular season record to earn the No. 3 in the East. The Buck swept the Miami Heat in the first round and lost to the Brooklyn Nets in the opening game of the semifinal series.