June 2009 issue of King Magazine

Most importantly, Kevin Love got snubbed but picked up Tweet of the Night as a consolation prize.

Second-most importantly, Lang Whitaker continued his meteoric rise into the mainstream media by co-hosting the awards with Shaquille O’Neal and Rick Fox. Before there was Twitter, and before there were hashtags or #trendsetter shout-outs, Lang was a trendsetter himself.

For example, before the retro jersey fad came and went, Lang once covered a Mavericks-Knicks game at Madison Square Garden for SLAM Magazine wearing a Don Nelson jersey from Nellie’s Celtics days. Nellie loved it.

As Lang continues to go mainstream, we should all look forward to seeing him in Dan Rather and Walter Cronkite’s old seat on the CBS Evening News.

Mad props also go out to J.E. Skeets and Tas Melas for their crossover moves.

The awards were divided into various categories and accounted for social activity across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and more. Fans determined the winners for several categories via voting across nba.com/sma, Facebook, Twitter and mobile.   Highlights from the NBA Social Media Awards are available at www.nba.com.

Somehow, J.R. Smith did not get an award for Best Booty Tweet.

Actually, they should retire the award in his honor. Here it is again:

Here is a list of the winners:

§  The Epic Award - favorite game during the regular season, as voted by fans.

-        Linsanity Begins (Feb. 12, 2012: Lakers vs. Knicks: Lin scores 38 points to outduel Kobe Bryant)

§  The Got Game Award – the fan-favorite team/play during the regular season.

-        “Blake Goes Big” (@BlakeGriffin)

§  The Social Slam Award – the fan-favorite dunk during the regular season.

-        Gerald Green “Go Get It”

§  The Social MVT (Most Valuable Team) – the team who had the largest social media footprint during the regular season.

-        Los Angeles Lakers  (@Lakers)

§  The Fan Nation Award – the team with the highest percentage of increased exposure across all platforms including all players on the respective teams.

-        Los Angeles Clippers (@LAClippers)

§  The FTW (For The Win) Award – the team/player who had the most shared/liked buzzer-beater during the regular season.

-        Kevin Durant’s game winner against the Dallas Mavericks (December 29, 2012)

§  The BIG (Best in Game) Award – the player who best utilized social media in a creative way across multiple platforms.

-        Jared Dudley (@JaredDudley619)

§  The #TrendSetter Award – the player who received the most mentions this season via Twitter.

-        Kobe Bryant

§  The Thumbs-Up Award – the player who had the most likes or whose Facebook posts received the most likes.

-        Kobe Bryant

§  The Triple Threat Award – the former player turned analyst who is the best person to follow via social media.

-        Shaquille O’Neal (@Shaq)

§  The Social Breakout Award – the player seeing the biggest increase in popularity with fans across Twitter and Facebook this season.

-        Jeremy Lin (presented prior to the show)

§  The Snap Shot Award – the player who posted the best picture of the year.

-        Landry Fields – Couch Made Famous (@landryfields)

§  The LOL Award – the team/players who had the most shared/liked blooper video during the regular season.

-        JaVale McGee  (@JavaleMcGee34)