Twenty-eight active posters contributed at least one ballot, with participation in any given thread ranging from nine ballots to nineteen ballots. The most frequent voters were Djoker, trelos, and AEnigma.
This iteration of the project awarded different RPoYs from the
2010 project in the following years: 2008, 2002, 1989, 1988, 1986, 1985, 1982, 1976, 1970, 1966, and 1964, plus a tie in 2001. When including the 2010 project in the voting tallies, there were three changed RPoY winners in aggregate: in 2002 (Shaq to Duncan), in 1985 (Bird to Magic), and in 1966 (Wilt to Russell), plus a new tie in 2008 (Garnett and Kobe). The youngest RPoY winners were 1982 Magic Johnson (22), 1999 Tim Duncan (23), 1970 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (23), 1986 Hakeem Olajuwon (23), and 2008 Lebron James (23); Kareem was the only rookie winner. The oldest winners were 2020 Lebron James (separate from this iteration), 1998 Michael Jordan, and 1969 Bill Russell (all 35). The record for the lowest winning vote share in this iteration of the project was 1975 Rick Barry (0.683 vote shares), and the record for the lowest winning
combined vote share was 2008 Garnett/Kobe (0.664 vote shares). The thread with the smallest range of RPoY ballot selections in this iteration was 1960 (5), and the threads with the smallest range of
combined RPoY ballot selections were 1962 and 1964 (6). Further analysis of the aggregated ballots will be provided at a later date.
This iteration of the project also added ballots for (Retro) Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year, which the annual Player of the Year project first introduced in 2015. We added 22 new names alongside the 4 OPoY winners from 2015-24, and we added 27 new names alongside the 3 DPoY winners from 2015-24. The youngest OPoYs were 1982 Magic Johnson and 1961 Oscar Robertson (both 22; Oscar was the only rookie winner), and the oldest OPoY was 2010 Steve Nash (36). The youngest DPoYs were 1957 Bill Russell and 2009 Dwight Howard (both 23; Russell was the only rookie winner), and the oldest DPoYs were 1973 Wilt Chamberlain and 2012 Kevin Garnett (both 36). The record for the lowest winning OPoY vote share was 1994 Reggie Miller (0.360 vote shares), and the record for the lowest winning DPoY vote share was 1980 Caldwell Jones and 1981 Robert Parish (0.422 vote shares). 1980 was especially divisive for DPoY voting, as twelve different players received votes — which is fifty percent larger than the largest range for any single OPoY vote, and matches the largest range this project had for
RPoY voting!
Multiple-Time Offensive Players of the Year1. Magic Johnson (10 wins)
2. Oscar Robertson (9* wins)
3. Lebron James (4 + 2 wins)
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6 wins)
5. Michael Jordan (5 wins)
5. Shaquille O’Neal (5 wins)
7a. Steve Nash (4 wins)
7a. Nikola Jokic (0 + 4 wins)
7c. Bob Cousy (4* wins)
10a. Steph Curry (0 + 3 wins)
10a. Bob Pettit (3 wins)
10c. Jerry West (3* wins)
13a. Dirk Nowitzki (2 wins)
13b. Paul Arizin (2* wins)
Elgin Baylor had the most top two finishes without a win (4), and Karl Malone had the most top three finishes without a win (6*).
If we applied the same 5-3-1 scoring system to podium finishes, these would be the top fifteen:
1a. Magic Johnson (10-0-1* for 51 total)
1b. Oscar Robertson (9*-2*-0 for 51 total)
3. Lebron James (6-6*-1 for 49 total)
4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6-3*-2* for 41 total)
5. Michael Jordan (5-4-1 for 38 total)
6. Jerry West (3*-4-3 for 30 total)
7. Shaquille O’Neal (5-1-1 for 29 total)
8. Bob Cousy (4*-2-0 for 26 total)
8. Steph Curry (3-3*-2* for 26 total)
10. Steve Nash (4-1-1 for 24 total)
10. Nikola Jokic (4-1*-1 for 24 total)
12. Dirk Nowitzki (2-3*-1 for 20 total)
12. Larry Bird (1-4-3* for 20 total)
14. Bob Pettit (3-1-1* for 19 total)
15. Kobe Bryant (1-3*-2* for 16 total)
Multiple-Time Defensive Players of the Year1. Bill Russell (13 wins)
2. Hakeem Olajuwon (6 wins)
3. Rudy Gobert (0 + 5 wins)
3. George Mikan (5 wins)
5. Tim Duncan (4 wins)
5. Kevin Garnett (4 wins)
7. Ben Wallace (3 wins)
7. Mark Eaton (3 wins)
7. Draymond Green (0 + 3 wins)
7. Dikembe Mutombo (3 wins)
11. Wilt Chamberlain (2 wins)
11. David Robinson (2 wins)
11. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (2 wins)
11. Mel Hutchins (2 wins)
11. Anthony Davis (0 + 2 wins)
11. Bill Walton (2 wins)
Nate Thurmond had the most top two (4)
and top three (9) finishes without a win.
He came closest in 1967 (0.689 shares, only two points behind Bill Russell).
If we applied the same 5-3-1 scoring system to podium finishes, these would be the top fifteen:
1. Bill Russell (13-0-0 for 65 total)
2. Hakeem Olajuwon (6-4-1 for 43 total)
3. Tim Duncan (4-5-3 for 38 total)
4. Kevin Garnett (4-2-7* for 33 total)
4. Wilt Chamberlain (2-7-2 for 33 total)
6. Rudy Gobert (5-1-2* for 30 total)
7. Ben Wallace (3-3-0 for 24 total)
7. Mark Eaton (3-3-0 for 24 total)
9. Draymond Green (3-2-2 for 23 total)
10. Dikembe Mutombo (3-2-0 for 21 total)
10. David Robinson (2-2-5* for 21 total)
12. Nate Thurmond (0-4-5 for 17 total)
13. Elvin Hayes (1-3-1 for 15 total)
14. Bobby Jones (0-3*-5* for 14 total)
15. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (2-1-0 for 13 total)
15. Dwight Howard (1-2-2 for 13 total)
Multiple-Time Players of the Year1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (10 wins)
1. Lebron James (6 + 4 wins)
3. Bill Russell (9 wins)
4a. Michael Jordan (6 wins)
4b. Tim Duncan (6* wins)
6. Magic Johnson (5 wins)
6. George Mikan (5 wins)
8. Hakeem Olajuwon (4 wins)
9. Nikola Jokic (0 + 3 wins)
10a. Larry Bird (2 wins)
10a. Bob Pettit (2 wins)
10c. Shaquille O’Neal (2* wins)
In this iteration of the project, Julius Erving had the most top two (4), top three (5) and top four (8) finishes without a win, and Oscar Robertson had the most top four (8) and top five (9) finishes without a win. Using the combined project results (which give a win to 1976 Erving and 1970 West), Kevin Durant and David Robinson have the most top two (3) finishes without a win, and Oscar Robertson has the most top three (5), top four (9), and top five (10) finishes without a win.
If we applied the same 10-7-5-3-1 scoring system to podium finishes, these would be the top twenty-five for this iteration of the project:
1. Lebron James (10-2-1-0-1 for 120 total)
2. Bill Russell (9-4-0-0-0 for 118 total)
3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (10-0-3*-0-2 for 117 total)
4. Tim Duncan (6*-2-1-3-2 for 90 total)
5. Magic Johnson (5-4-1-1-0 for 86 total)
6. Michael Jordan (6-3-0-1-1 for 85 total)
7. Wilt Chamberlain (2-6-2-2-0 for 78 total)
8. Hakeem Olajuwon (4-2-3-0-1 for 70 total)
9. Shaquille O’Neal (2*-3-3-3-0 for 65 total)
10. Dolph Schayes (1-4*-4-0-2 for 60 total)
11. Larry Bird (2-2-3*-2-0 for 55 total)
12. George Mikan (5-0-0-0-0 for 50 total)
13. Kevin Garnett (1-2-4-1-1 for 48 total)
14. Nikola Jokic (3-1-1-0-1 for 43 total)
14. Bob Pettit (2-1-2-1-3 for 43 total)
14. Julius Erving (0-4-1-3-1 for 43 total)
17. Steph Curry (1-3-0-2-1 for 38 total)
18. Oscar Robertson (0-1-3-4-3 for 37 total)
19. Jerry West (0-3-1-2-2 for 34 total)
20. Kevin Durant (0-3-1-1-1 for 30 total)
21. Kobe Bryant (0-2-2-1-2 for 29 total)
21. Bob Cousy (0-2-2-1-2 for 29 total)
21. David Robinson (0-3-1-0-3 for 29 total)
24. Moses Malone (1-1-2-0-1 for 28 total)
25. Dwyane Wade (1-1-1-1-0 for 25 total)
The official share aggregating will take quite some time and will not be a direct match, but I hope this list will give people a sense of how the total share count might look.
Thank you again to everyone who put in the time to vote.
