Who is Larry O’Brien and why is the NBA Championship trophy named after him?

After four games, the Nuggets are leading 3-1 in the NBA Finals. Denver is three wins away from being crowned king of the NBA and hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

O’Brien made a name in the world of politics

While it may not be as popular, and its name may not be as renowned as the Lombardi Trophy, most NBA fans know what the piece of hardware given out at the end of the NBA Finals is called.

Many probably don’t know that Larry O’Brien didn’t dedicate his life to basketball. There are no records of O’Brien ever even having played a serious game of basketball in his life. The Springfield, Massachusetts native made his name in politics.

He served the Democratic Party for over two decades as one of their top electoral strategists. He was the United States Postmaster General and was named to President Lyndon Johnson’s cabinet in the mid 60′s. O’Brien was also one of the top camping advisors to the Kennedys and George McGovern in the 60′s and 70′s.

O’Brien was named commissioner from 1975-1984

With his legacy cemented in politics and his leadership abilities unquestioned, the NBA knocked at a particularly fragile time. They named him the third commissioner of the league, replacing J. Walter Kennedy in 1975.

As commissioner, he drove the ABA-NBA merger, which would eventually grow the league from 18 teams to 23. O’Brien also negotiated a multimillion-dollar TV deal with CBS that would bring the company to new heights and reach more American’s living rooms with greater ease. Not only did the television audiences grow under his time as commissioner, but stadium attendance skyrocketed. Gate receipts for teams around the league doubled, and the NBA’s popularity reached new heights. One of the most important rule changes in O’Brien’s time was the introduction of the three-point field goal in 1979.

Before there was a Larry O’Brien trophy, the NBA would award its champion the Walter A. Brown Trophy. That piece of hardware was only lent to the winning teams until the following year, when the new winners would hold on to it, much like the Stanley Cup. That trophy lasted from 1947 until 1976.

Blazers first to win the O’Brien trophy

In 1977, the league came out with a modified trophy named after their commissioner Larry O’Brien. Bill Walton and the Portland Trail Blazers were the first teams to hoist the newly made-over hardware, who beat the Philadelphia 76ers in six games. Since then, the Los Angeles Lakers have lifted the Larry O’Brien trophy more than any franchise since the ‘77 season, having won 11 titles.

Victor Solomon and Tiffany & Co. have teamed up to create and remodel most of the trophies given out this NBA season. At last year’s All-Star break feature, we saw the new Kobe Bryant trophy awarded to the game’s MVP. We have seen the Conference Finals MVP trophies introduced last season, with Nikola Jokic winning the Magic Johnson trophy for MVP of the Western Conference Finals and Jimmy Butler winning the Larry Bird trophy as the Easter Conference Finals MVP.

While there are slight modifications to the Larry O’Brien, Solomon said that the silhouette of the trophy is too iconic to be changed. Instead, it has just been tilted the slightest bit forward, and there have been some minor upgrades to the detail of the net.

While the look may be slightly adjusted, what the trophy means to the players and the fans will not change.