Tiffany & Co. has created this year’s Larry O'Brien Trophy, which was awarded to the New York Knicks on Saturday.
New York—“Go New York, Go New York, Go!”
The cheers reverberated through the streets of New York City Saturday night after the New York Knicks won its first NBA championship in 53 years in a 94-90 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5.
The team will be celebrating the historic win at the ticker tape parade held in its honor on Thursday in New York City.
To commemorate the win, the team also took home the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
Here are five fun facts about the iconic NBA trophy, including how much it weighs and a look at the life of the man it’s named after.
Tiffany & Co. makes the Larry O'Brien Trophy. The Larry O'Brien Trophy has been made by Tiffany & Co. since 1977.
The storied New York jeweler crafted the trophy for its home team this year, as well.
Tiffany & Co. creates a total of eight basketball trophies, including the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award, the WNBA Championship Trophy, and the NBA Eastern and Western Conference Championship trophies.
This year’s Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award winner was Knicks point guard and team captain Jalen Brunson.
Tiffany & Co. is also the maker of the NFL’s Vince Lombardi Trophy, and trophies for various other sports, including golf, tennis, hockey, and esports.
Through the end of this week, visitors to Tiffany & Co.'s New York flagship, also known as "The Landmark," can visit the trophy on the sixth floor.
The Tiffany & Co. flagship in New York City, dubbed "The Landmark," was lit up in honor of the New York Knicks' win.
It’s made in Rhode Island by hand. The New York Knicks will be taking home an American-made trophy.
It’s handcrafted each year at the Tiffany Hollowware Workshop in Cumberland, Rhode Island.
The artisans employ a number of age-old techniques, including spinning, silversmithing, chasing, hand engraving, and polishing.
It took the team a total of 65 hours to create the trophy over the course of seven months.
The trophy was recently redesigned. The Larry O’Brien Trophy was redesigned in 2022 in honor of the NBA’s 75th anniversary.
The trophy is crafted from sterling silver with a gold vermeil finish.
It’s meant to look like a regulation-size basketball is just about to fly through the net.
The updated trophy has the names of all the previous winning teams on its two-level cylindrical base.
There’s also space for the next 25 years of champions.
Tiffany & Co.’s entire NBA trophy suite was revamped that year through a creative partnership with artist Victor Solomon.
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This trophy is hefty. The sizable trophy measures up to the iconic moment it celebrates.
It’s approximately 25.5 inches high, 15.5 inches wide, and 15 inches long, with a 9.5-inch basketball at the top.
The Larry O’Brien Trophy weighs in at 29 pounds.
Larry O’Brien was an NBA commissioner and a political organizer with a connection to the Watergate scandal. The trophy was named after the late Larry O'Brien, a Massachusetts native and the son of Irish immigrants. He had two interesting and distinct careers in his life.
O’Brien served as NBA commissioner from 1975 to 1984, and he was a major force behind the merger of the American Basketball Association with the NBA, according to the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 1991.
O’Brien inked a lucrative TV deal with CBS, negotiated a historic collective bargaining agreement with the National Basketball Players Association, and modified the college draft.
The NBA expanded from 18 to 23 teams under his leadership. The NBA also adopted the three-point shot in 1979 during his tenure.
However, most of O’Brien’s professional life was spent outside of basketball.
O’Brien received a bachelor’s degree in law from Northeastern University, and went on to become a well-respected political strategist, as per Encyclopedia Britannica.
He managed victories for President John F. Kennedy’s 1952 and 1958 U.S. Senate runs, and his narrow 1960 presidential win.
He worked toward the approval of the bills that created the Peace Corps and Medicare, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
He served as postmaster general from 1965 to 1968, then went on to manage Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign.
He was the chair of the Democratic National Committee twice. Republican campaign workers burglarized his office in 1972, which is what led to the Watergate scandal.
“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,” said the Basketball Hall of Fame.
