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Chicago’s Luol Deng, Houston’s Yao Ming, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Elton Brand, Miami’s Shaquille O’Neal, New Jersey’s Jacque Vaughn and Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko have been selected by a five-member panel of former players as divisional winners for the 2005-06 NBA Sportsmanship Award.

The NBA Sportsmanship Award, designed to honor a player who best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the court, is voted on by NBA players. The winner will be announced after the regular season.

The 2005-06 NBA Sportsmanship Award winner will be presented with the Joe Dumars Trophy, named after the former Detroit Pistons great who played 14 seasons in the NBA and was the recipient of the inaugural NBA Sportsmanship Award in 1996. The six-time All-Star, recently announced as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2006, was selected in honor of his distinguished and dignified career and for symbolizing the tradition the NBA wants to recognize with this award.

Former NBA players John Crotty, John Celestand, Eddie Johnson, Steve Mix and Kenny Smith selected the six divisional winners from a pool of 30 team nominees. Each team nominated one of its own players for this award.

The annual award reflects the ideals of sportsmanship -- ethical behavior, fair play and integrity -- in amateur and professional basketball, a key focus of the league’s Jr. NBA and Jr. WNBA grassroots youth basketball program.

Following is a list of the all-time winners of the NBA Sportsmanship award:

ALL-TIME NBA SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD WINNERS

Inaugural: Joe Dumars (1996)
1996-1997: Terrell Brandon, Cleveland
1997-1998: Avery Johnson, San Antonio
1998-1999: Hersey Hawkins, Seattle
1999-2000: Eric Snow, Philadelphia
2000-2001: David Robinson, San Antonio
2001-2002: Steve Smith, San Antonio
2002-2003: Ray Allen, Seattle
2003-2004: P.J. Brown, New Orleans
2004-2005: Grant Hill, Orlando