Does NBA have an equivalent for Ballon D'or? Highest accolades in the league explored

The Ballon d'Or is arguably the highest honor one can achieve in all of football. The award, which is given annually, recognizes and honors the achievements of the best player in the world. Given that the FIBA World Cup recently ended, many fans are wondering whether the NBA has an equivalent to the Ballon d'Or.

The simple answer to this is: No, the NBA does not have an equivalent to the Ballon d'Or. However, the closest comparable award is the MVP award, which honors the best NBA player during the regular season. The biggest difference, however, is that the NBA MVP award only looks at the regular season.

In comparison, the Ballon d'Or looks at an individual's achievements throughout the year, across all play, not just league play. For example, a player who competes for PSG in the Champions League could win the award partly due to stellar play in the World Cup as well.

By contrast, the NBA MVP award only looks at regular season performance and doesn't take into account playoff play, or other factors. For example, Joel Embiid who won the most recent NBA MVP award, won the award despite the Philadelphia 76ers coming up short in the playoffs.

In addition, Embiid didn't play in the FIBA World Cup this year. In addition, should an NBA player wind up performing exceptionally in the Olympics, their play wouldn't be credited toward an NBA MVP award.

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Looking at other differences between the Ballon d'Or and NBA MVP award

One of the other key differences between the Ballon D'or and the NBA MVP award is that the Ballon D'or isn't awarded by any individual league. Since 1956 the award has been presented by France Football magazine. Although there was a period from 2010-2015 when the award merged with the FIFA Ballon d'Or award.

Despite that, in 2016, the award came back, with FIFA giving a separate award honoring the 'FIFA Men's Player of the Year'. In the case of the NBA MVP award, although there is a voting system where analysts and reporters vote for their MVPs, the award is given by the NBA - versus France Football Magazine.

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While many have compared the FIBA World Cup MVP award, which was recently won by Dennis Schroder to the prestigious football award, they don't compare. Although many have wondered if there will be a similar award created for basketball to honor the best player in the world regardless of league, no outlet has done so.

Despite that, the NBA has decided to take a page from football by creating the NBA Cup, an award honoring winners of an in-season tournament. As Commissioner Adam Silver explained, the idea came from FIFA's in-season tournaments. Whether or not we see the league take more such recognition awards from FIFA going forward, only time will tell.

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