DBL Most Valuable Player Award

The Dutch Basketball League Most Valuable Player Award is an annual award given to the most valuable player in the Dutch highest professional basketball league. The award is given after the regular season and was first handed out in 1974.

Six Dutch players have won the award so far, with Emmanuel Nzekwesi being the last winner in 2021. Kees Akerboom, Sr. (1980, 1981, 1985) and Leon Rodgers (2005–2007) are the all-time leaders in Dutch MVP awards.

Winners

Wilson Washington was MVP in 1982

Mike Reddick (to the right of Aleksandar Đorđević) won MVP in 1988

Travis Reed won the award in 2004

Leiden's Danny Gibson was MVP in 2010.

Jason Dourisseau won the award in 2011.

Arvin Slagter won the award in the 2013–14 season.

Worthy de Jong was the Most Valuable Player in 2016.

Emmanuel Nzekwesi, winner in 2021.

Key

Player (X)	Name of the player and number of times they had won the award at that point (if more than one)
Club (X)	Name of the club and the number of times a player of it has won the award (if more than one)
†	Denotes player whose team won championship that year
	Denotes player who is still active in the DBL

Season	Player	Position	Nationality	Club	Ref
1974–75†	Harry Rogers	Forward	United States	Punch	[1]
1975–76	Hank Smith	Forward	Netherlands	Canadians Amsterdam
1976–77	Jimmy Moore	Forward	United States	Arke Stars Enschede
1977–78†	Art Collins	Guard	United States	Leiden
1978–79†	James Lister	Center	United States	EBBC Den Bosch
1979–80	Kees Akerboom Sr.	Guard	Netherlands	EBBC Den Bosch (2)
1980–81†	Kees Akerboom Sr. (2)	Guard	Netherlands	EBBC Den Bosch (3)
1981–82	Wilson Washington	Center	United States	BV Amstelveen
1982–83	David Lawrence	Forward	United States	Donar
1983–84	Jerry Beck	Forward	United States	Leiden (2)
1984–85†	Kees Akerboom Sr. (3)	Guard	Netherlands	EBBC Den Bosch (4)
1985–86	Toon van Helfteren	Forward	Netherlands	Leiden (3)
1986–87	José Waitman	Forward	United States	Den Helder
1987–88†	Mike Reddick	Center	United States	EBBC Den Bosch (5)
1988–89	Rob Jones	Center	United States	Red Giants Meppel
1989–90	Kevin McDuffie	Center	United States	BS Weert
1990–91	Lenzie Howell	Forward	United States	Red Giants Meppel (2)
1991–92	Lenzie Howell (2)	Forward	United States	Red Giants Meppel (3)
1992–93	Jack Jennings	Forward	United States [a]	Donar (2)
1993–94†	Richard van Poelgeest	Center	Netherlands	BS Weert (2)
1994–95	Sonique Nixon	Center	United States	BS Weert (3)
1995–96	Michael Huger	Guard	United States	Rotterdam
1996–97†	Marcel Huijbens	Center	Netherlands	EBBC Den Bosch (6)
1997–98	Donnell Thomas	Forward	United States	Donar (3)
1998–99	Ralph Biggs	Forward	United States	BS Weert (4)
1999–00†	Joe Spinks	Guard	United States [b]	Astronauts Amsterdam (2)
2000–01†	Chris McGuthrie	Guard	United States	Astronauts Amsterdam (3)
2001–02	Mack Tuck	Forward	United States	Donar (4)
2002–03	Joe Spinks (2)	Guard	United States [b]	Astronauts Amsterdam (4)
2003–04†	Travis Reed	Forward/center	United States	Donar (5)
2004–05	Leon Rodgers	Forward	United States [c]	EiffelTowers Nijmegen
2005–06†	Leon Rodgers (2)	Forward	United States [c]	Den Bosch (7)
2006–07†	Leon Rodgers (3)	Forward	United States [c]	Den Bosch (8)	[2]
2007–08 †	Peter van Paassen	Center	Netherlands	Amsterdam (5)	[3]
2008–09 †	Peter van Paassen (2)	Center	Netherlands	Amsterdam (6)	[4]
2009–10	Danny Gibson	Guard	United States	Leiden (4)	[5]
2010–11	Jason Dourisseau	Forward	United States [d]	Donar (6)	[6]
2011–12	Seamus Boxley	Forward	United States	Leiden (5)	[7]
2012–13	Andre Young	Guard	United States	Den Bosch (9)	[8]
2013–14 †	Arvin Slagter	Guard	Netherlands	Donar (7)	[9]
2014–15	Lance Jeter	Guard	United States	Donar (8)	[10]
2015–16	Worthy de Jong	Guard	Netherlands	ZZ Leiden (6)	[11]
2016–17 †	Lance Jeter (2)	Guard	United States	Donar (9)	[12]
2017–18 †	Brandyn Curry	Guard	United States	Donar (10)	[13]
2018–19	Darius Thompson	Guard	United States	ZZ Leiden (7)	[14]
2020–21 †	Emmanuel Nzekwesi	Center	Netherlands	ZZ Leiden (8)	[15]

1. Jennings also held the Israeli nationality.
2. Spinks later became a Dutch citizen.
3. Rodgers became a naturalised Venezuelan in 2016.
4. Dourisseau became Dutch citizen in 2015.

Awards by player

Player	Total	Years
Kees Akerboom	3	1980, 1981, 1985
Leon Rodgers	3	2005, 2006, 2007
Lenzie Howell	2	1991, 1992
Lance Jeter	2	2015, 2017
Peter van Paassen	2	2008, 2009
Joe Spinks	2	2000, 2003

Awards won by nationality

Country	Total
United States	34
Netherlands	11

References

1. "MVP Competitie (M) | Basketballhistorie". 2016-03-20. Archived from the original on 2016-03-20. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
2. "Leon Rodgers weer beste basketballer". Nrc.nl. 2007-04-14. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
3. "Van Paassen Mvp". Nusport.nl. Retrieved 2014-02-19.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
4. "Peter van Paassen Crowned Most Valuable Player of the FEB". Sportando.net. 2009-04-07. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
5. "Danny Gibson MVP". Nusport.nl. Archived from the original on 2014-02-28. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
6. "Dourisseau gekozen tot MVP" (in Dutch). AD.nl. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
7. "Seamus Boxley MVP van de Dutch Basketball League". Basketball.nl. 2012-04-17. Archived from the original on 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
8. "Andre Young MVP van de DBL". Basketball.nl. 2013-04-16. Archived from the original on 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2014-02-19.
9. "Meeste seizoensprijzen naar GasTerra Flames". iBasketball (in Dutch). 2014-04-22. Archived from the original on 2014-04-22. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
10. "Lance Jeter MVP van de DBL".
11. "Worthy de Jong uitgeroepen tot MVP". DBL. 12 April 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
12. "Jeter: MVP van het seizoen". Basketballleague.nl. 11 April 2017.
13. "Brandyn Curry gekozen tot MVP". DBL. 23 April 2018. Archived from the original on 24 April 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
14. "Darius Thompson is MVP van de DBL". basketballleague.nl. Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
15. "Historische mega-prijzenoogst voor Nzekwesi". Dutch Basketball League (in Dutch). 23 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.