2024 NBA All-Star Game: who has won the most All-Star Game MVP awards?

Since 1951, the NBA has honoured its outstanding players each year by inviting them to show off their talents in the league’s All-Star Game. The exhibition match’s 2024 edition takes place in Indiana on Sunday, with Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James again named as team captains for an event that will also feature star performers such as Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and Jayson Tatum.

After scoring an All-Star-record 55 points, Tatum scooped the game’s MVP award for the first time in his career in 2023, following in the footsteps of a glittering cast of former winners of the prize.

Since the Boston Celtics’ Ed Macauley became the All-Star Game’s inaugural MVP just over seven decades ago, NBA legends such as Bob Pettit, Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant have all been recognised as the match’s stand-out individual. But who has won the accolade on more occasions than anybody else?

The All-Star Game’s most frequent MVPs

That record is shared by Pettit and Bryant, who were each proclaimed All-Star MVP four times. Los Angeles Lakers great Bryant, who appeared in a total of 18 All-Star Games, picked up the award in 2002, 2007, 2009 and 2011. Meanwhile, Pettit was MVP in 1956, 1958, 1959 and 1962.

Kobe Bryant’s All-Star Game MVPs

Bryant won his first All-Star Game MVP in Philadelphia, the city where he was born. Joined by Steve Francis, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan and Shaquille O’Neal in the Western Conference All-Stars’ starting five, the shooting guard racked up 31 of his team’s 135 points, and picked up five rebounds and five assists.

Five years later, ‘Black Mamba’ reclaimed the MVP award at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center, having again scored 31 points. He also registered six assists, six steals and five rebounds as the Western Conference earned a crushing 153-132 win over the East. Bryant’s fellow starters for the West were Tracy McGrady, Garnett, Duncan and Yao Ming.

In 2009, Bryant had to share the MVP trophy with then-Lakers team-mate O’Neal, as the West swept to a 146-119 triumph in Phoenix. Their commanding victory was in no small measure down to a first-quarter run of 19 points without reply following O’Neal’s introduction from the bench. Bryant finished up with 27 points, four assists, four rebounds and four steals.

Two years on, Bryant was the All-Star Game’s MVP for the final time in his illustrious career. Although LeBron James picked up a triple-double at LA’s Staples Center, the Lakers SG took the individual spoils thanks to a display that saw him manage 37 points, 14 rebounds and three steals, as the West won 148-143.

Following Bryant’s death in 2020, the MVP prize was renamed the All-Star Game Kobe Bryant Most Valuable Player Award, in the five-time NBA champion’s honour.

Bob Pettit’s All-Star Game MVPs

Pettit surprised everyone when he claimed the All-Star Game’s MVP prize in 1956, despite being named on the bench for his debut in the fixture. A player who went on to be an 11-time All-Star, the forward accrued 20 points and 24 rebounds to lead the Western Conference to a 108-94 victory over the East.

By 1959, Pettit had added two more MVP awards, the second shared with Elgin Baylor. He scored 28 points and amassed 26 rebounds despite being on the losing side in 1958, before retaining the trophy the following year with 25 points and 16 rebounds in a 124-108 win for the West.

An NBA champion with the St Louis Hawks in 1958, Pettit then became the first ever four-time All-Star MVP in 1962, spearheading a dominant victory for the Western Conference. He registered 25 points and 27 rebounds in a 150-130 win at St Louis Arena.

2024 All-Star Game: start time, how to watch

The 73rd edition of the event, this season’s NBA All-Star Game is to be held today, Sunday 18 February 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. Tip-off is scheduled for 8pm ET/5pm PT. Viewers in the US will be able to watch the game on TNT, while you’ll also have the option of following live-text commentary right here at AS USA.