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The NBA Finals MVP award has been given out since 1969. The first player to win this distinguished award was Jerry West aka "The Logo". West is also the only player to have won the honor in a losing cause. After him, every player who has received the award has been on the winning team.
In 2009, the NBA renamed the Finals MVP Award to the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award, in honor of the Boston Celtics legend, Bill Russell, who is a record 11-time NBA championship winner.
Michael Jordan has won the NBA Finals MVP award a record six times. Jordan picked up the award on each occasion the Chicago Bulls won the NBA Finals in the 90s (1991-93, 1996-98). LeBron James has received the award on four occasions, each time his team won the NBA Finals.
The Finals MVP award has been given out 53 times since 1969. On most occasions, the winner has been from the United States of America. There are very few instances of non-American players winning Finals MVP.
Considering that Hakeem Olajuwon and Tim Duncan attended college in America, became naturalized US citizens and also represented Team USA at the Olympics during the course of their playing careers, there are only three true instances of non-Americans receiving the Finals MVP honor. We rank these winners here.
#3 Tony Parker (2007 NBA Finals MVP)
2007 NBA Finals Stat line: 24.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 56.8% FG, 57.1% 3-PT FG over four games
With Olajuwon and Duncan eliminated from consideration, Tony Parker is the first non-American to win the Finals MVP Award. The Frenchman won the distinction when the San Antonio Spurs steamrolled the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0 in the 2007 NBA Finals.
Parker averaged 24.5 points, the most by any player on either team in that Finals series. He shot better than 55% from the field and the three-point line. His best performance of the series came in Game 2 when he dropped 30 points while going 13-of-20 from the field at a phenomenally efficient shooting rate of 65%.
Parker also contributed 24 points and seven rebounds in the low-scoring, closeout Game 4 contest where the Spurs edged the Cavs 83-82. With this perspective, of Parker’s four NBA titles with the Spurs, the 2007 chip would surely mean a lot more to him.
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#2 Dirk Nowitzki (2011 NBA Finals MVP)
2011 NBA Finals Stat line: 26.0 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 45-of-46 FTs, FTs 97.8% over six games
Dirk Nowitzki put on a show in the 2011 NBA Finals versus LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat. The German maestro averaged a near double-double for the six-game series, missing only one free throw over the course of the Finals.
Although Nowitzki’s best effort came in a losing cause in Game 3 (34 points, 11 rebounds), Nowitzki played clutch basketball for Dallas in Game 2 to pull off a comeback victory.
With the Mavs trailing 73-88 in quarter four, Jason Terry scored 8 of the Mavs’ next 13 points to pull the game to within four points for Dallas (86-90). Nowitzki then scored nine straight points for Dallas over the last three minutes of the game to help the Mavericks level the series 1-1. Nowitzki finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds in the game that finished 95-93.
Something similar happened in Game 4 as well. With Dallas trailing 65-74 and ten minutes left to play in the game, Nowitzki scored 10 of the Mavs' last 21 points to help his team to square the series 2-2. Nowitzki had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the game.
A 29-point outing in Game 5 and a 21-point, 11-rebound showing in Game 6 by Nowitzki ensured that the Dallas Mavericks took home their first NBA championship in franchise history.
#1 Giannis Antetokounmpo (2021 NBA Finals MVP)
2021 NBA Finals Stat line: 35.2 ppg, 61.8% FG, 13.2 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.8 bpg over six games
Giannis Antetokounmpo is the last non-American to win Finals MVP and had the best performance among the three players on this list. What he did in the 2021 NBA Finals was nothing short of unbelievable. This is when he wasn’t even expected to play in the Finals after injuring himself in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals versus the Atlanta Hawks.
To put things in proper context, Giannis’ Game 1 showing of 20 points and 17 rebounds was probably his worst outing of the six-game series against the Phoenix Suns. He followed it up with two 40-point double-doubles in Games 2 and 3 as the Milwaukee Bucks finally picked up their first win in the series.
The Greek Freak continued his dominance in the next two matchups as the Bucks edged closer to a championship. In the closeout Game 6, Antetokounmpo put up a performance for the ages as he racked up 50 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks to put the final nail in the Phoenix Suns' coffin.
Giannis also put up two of the most iconic plays in NBA history during the 2021 Finals. His block on Deandre Ayton in the dying moments of Game 4 and his alley-oop dunk with 13.5 seconds left in Game 5 are the stuff of absolute legend. Giannis’ incredible journey to winning the 2021 Finals MVP award will live on for decades to come.
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