Who is larry o brien

Lawrence "Larry" Francis O'Brien Jr. (July 7, 1917-September 28, 1990) was a former commissioner of the NBA from 1975 to 1984, helped the league gain a more secure financial footing with his political acumen and highly regarded negotiating skills. Not only did team coffers swell during his tenure, but relations between players and owners improved as well. O'Brien gave the NBA a more polished and professional profile, thanks to the solid public image he had gained during a 30-year career as a distinguished behind-the-scenes politician.

O'Brien died of cancer after surgery in Manhattan, New York on September 28, 1990.

NBA players aspire to individual greatness, yet when asked what they consider the greatest basketball accomplishment, most players don’t mention scoring a lot or earning the MVP award. Instead, they say that winning a championship is the best achievement of all.

The NBA rewards its champions with one of the most striking trophies in sports: the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. Despite this award’s prominence in the NBA landscape, many fans still don’t know Larry O’Brien.

Larry O’Brien’s NBA legacy

The trophy presented to NBA champions was first known as the NFA Finals Trophy. In 1964, the league changed the name to the Walter A. Brown Trophy in order to honor the Boston Celtics founder. Brown played a key role in growing the league. In 1984, however, the NBA changed the name once again, to the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.

O’Brien was the NBA’s third commissioner. The former Postmaster General served the league from 1975-84, reports Mental Floss. In his time as commissioner, O’Brien helped expand the league from 18 to 23 teams. He also negotiated the ABA/NBA merger, set up highly profitable cable TV contracts, and ushered in the adoption of the three-point line.

O’Brien’s time as commissioner didn’t lack problems, though. For one thing, he struggled to fight the racially biased idea that NBA players were drug users and had poor character. To counteract this perception, O’Brien advanced stringent new anti-drug rules.

Another common criticism of his time as commissioner was that some of his good decisions were the ideas of his subordinates. For instance, O’Brien’s expansion into cable TV was largely influenced by his eventual replacement, David Stern. Nonetheless, O’Brien’s strengths greatly outweighed his weaknesses as he guided the NBA to where it is today.

The Larry O’Brien Trophy itself

The Larry O’Brien Trophy has existed in its current form since 1977 — in other words, seven years before it was renamed in honor of O’Brien. The 24-inch-tall trophy resembles a basketball poised to fall through a hoop. It’s made of almost 16 pounds of sterling silver coated in 24-karat gold overlay.

Renowned jeweler Tiffany & Co. designed and manufactured the Larry O’Brien Trophy. With a lineage so distinguished, it’s no surprise the trophy costs $13,500, reports Investopedia. This may seem like an enormous sum, but it’s actually cheaper than both the MLB’s World Series Trophy and the NFL’s Super Bowl Trophy, which clock in at $19,000 and $50,000 respectively.

What happens to the trophy each year

A common question about the Larry O’Brien Trophy is whether the winning NBA team gets to keep it following their championship victory. In the far distant past, only one trophy existed. Each year it passed hands depending on the team who secured a finals victory.

Today, however, each winning team gets their own trophy. Of course, until the finals are over, they don’t engrave it. At the moment of victory, the trophy hoisted by the team still doesn’t contain any identifying information. After the game, Tiffany takes back the trophy and engraves it with the winning team’s name and year.

At that point, the Larry O’Brien Trophy often goes on a victory tour, reports the New York Times. The team and its players get a chance to display the trophy at various places in their state and/or country. Eventually, it returns home to the team’s headquarters, where it takes up permanent residence.

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A former postmaster general, a special assistant to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, the national chairman of the Democratic Party, and a native of Springfield, Massachusetts where basketball was invented, Larry O’ Brien made the transition from politics to sports in 1975 by becoming the commissioner of the National Basketball Association. O'Brien’s contributions to the world of basketball are enormous.  He spearheaded the merger of the American Basketball Association with the NBA, signed a lucrative television contract with CBS, negotiated an historic collective bargaining agreement with the NBA Players Association, and modified the college draft. Under O'Brien, the NBA expanded from 18 to 23 teams and in 1979 adopted the three-point shot. The league championship trophy is named after him. Although O’Brien spent most of his professional life outside the world of sports, his contributions and impact on basketball’s continued welfare is his real legacy.

At the start of each NBA season, a few contenders hold the same ultimate goal: Capture the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

The golden trophy is the reward for the team that can survive the rigors of an 82-game regular season and brutal grind of an NBA Playoff run. Even casual basketball fans are familiar with its iconic look and have seen many legends share unforgettable moments with the trophy after the final buzzer sounded.

But do you know why it is called the Larry O'Brien Trophy? What about the man for whom it is named?

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Who is Larry O'Brien?

Long before he was recognized for his contributions to the NBA, O'Brien had a successful career in politics. He served as a campaign director for John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, and he was also the national chairman of the Democratic Party (1968-69, 1970-72) and postmaster general (1965-68).

O'Brien made the jump to sports in 1975, becoming the third commissioner of the NBA after Maurice Podoloff and J. Walter Kennedy. He held that position for nearly a decade, overseeing the expansion of the league from 18 to 23 teams, merger of the American Basketball Association with the NBA and adoption of the 3-point line.

Perhaps most importantly, NBA games became more widely available to watch on television during O'Brien's tenure, though his successor, David Stern, certainly deserves credit for turning the league into a global brand.

O'Brien, who died in 1990, was posthumously inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991.

Naming of the Larry O'Brien Trophy

Before it was known as the Larry O'Brien Trophy, the NBA's biggest prize was called the Walter A. Brown Trophy beginning in 1964 to honor the original owner of the Celtics. It kept that name until the league switched to the Larry O'Brien Trophy in 1984.

Tiffany & Co. has been in charge of crafting the trophy since 1977. It is two feet tall and weighs 16 pounds, and it is made from "sterling silver with a 24-karat gold vermeil overlay."

Larry O'Brien Trophy winners

The Lakers have won the most Larry O'Brien trophies since the modern version of the trophy was introduced in 1977. The Bucks most recently took home the hardware in 2021.