It was announced today that Memphis Grizzlies’ point guard Mike Conley is the 2013-2014 NBA Sportsmanship Award winner. Conley is the first Grizzlies player to receive the Joe Dumars Trophy. A $10,000. donation by the NBA on behalf of Conley will be given to the charity of his choice, the St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital, which will be used specifically for sickle cell anemia research.

Each NBA team nominates a player for the Sportsmanship Award. Former NBA players Isiah Thomas, John Crotty, Eddie Johnson and Antonio Davis select six divisional winners from the 30 team nominees. Then each NBA player vote for who they want as their NBA Sportsman of the Year. Eleven points is given for each first-place vote, nine points for each second-place vote, seven points for third, five points for fourth, three points for fifth and one point for each sixth-place vote.

Grizzlies’ Mike Conley (Southwest) received 77 first-place votes and a total of 2,335 points overall. The other five candidates, who will receive a $5000. donation in their honor to the charities of their choice, included Bull’s Mike Dunleavy (Central), Celtics’ Jeff Green (Atlantic), Trailblazers’ Damian Lillard (Northwest), Sun’s Channing Frye (Pacific) and Wizards’ Bradley Beal (Southeast).

The annual Sportsmanship Award reflects the ideals of sportsmanship such as integrity and ethics. Its trophy is named after former Detroit Pistons’ Hall of Famer Joe Dumars, who was the award’s first recipient.

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Photo Credit: NBAE/Getty Images