The NBA: Where Awkward Trophy Presentations Happen

As you may have heard by now, the Lakers have earned themselves a trip back to the Finals by eliminating the Denver Nuggets to become the Western Conference Champions. And with this great honor comes a great prize: the aptly named Western Conference Champions ... trophy.

Yeah, it's a bit awkward. But not as awkward as the presentation of the award itself, which took place somewhere in the bowels of the Pepsi Center in front of no one but Doris Burke, James Worthy, and an ESPN camera crew. Let's watch together, shall we?



That was about as stale as you can get.

Doris Burke is an excellent sideline reporter, but she doesn't exactly seem thrilled to be the mistress of this ceremony. This is a trophy presentation people, how about showing some excitement?

And is James Worthy the best we can do, as far as digging up a former member of the organization to make the "official" presentation? Really? The man can't even pronounce the word "ask." They got Jerry West -- a Hall of Fame player and architect of seven of the team's championships as general manager -- to hand the Lakers the trophy last year.

There was no hooting or hollering from the players (few even cracked so much as a smile), and only a smattering of applause from the team when the trophy was presented. A lot of that has to do with the fact that the Lakers got to this point a year ago, only to get crushed by a better Celtics team in the Finals. But you can't tell me that things wouldn't have been a little better had they done it on the court in front of whatever portion of the crowd decided to stay and watch.

They do this in other major sports like the NFL, so why not do it in the NBA?

As far as I can tell, the league only started handing out a trophy for winning the conference title sometime near the beginning of the decade, in either 2001 or 2002. They started this tradition with little fanfare, and didn't even bother to name the trophy that they award to the winners.

If the league wants to make winning the conference a big deal, they need to treat it as such, and in the same way every year, no matter where the winning team closes out the series. There should be an on-court presentation, in front of the crowd, with a league representative doing the honors.

Maybe there's a reason they haven't made a big deal about it since, and it might be because unless you're a team that's never been there before, it isn't ultimately something that's worth celebrating.

If that's the case, then just pass out the free hats and t-shirts, and let the players begin their preparations for the Finals.

[This post has been edited from the original published version, as it contained an inaccurate comment about Jerry West still working for the Memphis Grizzlies at the time of the trade that sent Pau Gasol to Los Angeles. He had actually retired more than six months before, in July of 2007.]