Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks was named the winner of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the 2006-07 season, the NBA announced today. Full voting results for the award are below. The nine-year NBA veteran totaled 1,138 points, including 83 first place votes, from a panel of 129 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Players were awarded 10 points for each first-place vote, seven points for each second-place vote, five for third, three for fourth and one for each fifth-place vote received. InsideHoops.com
Rounding out the top five in voting for MVP were Phoenix’s Steve Nash (1,013 points/44 first-place votes), the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant (521 points/two first-place votes), San Antonio’s Tim Duncan (286 points) and Cleveland’s LeBron James (183 points). Nowitzki is the first European-born player to win the NBA MVP Award and joins Hakeem Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets (1993-94), Duncan (2001-02 and 2002-03) and Nash (2004-05 and 2005-06) on the list of international players that have captured the Podoloff Trophy. InsideHoops.com