New York Diary
NBA’s Larry O’ Brien Trophy Unveiled at the American Museum of Natural History
After the Knicks spectacular victory, New York is definitely Knicks Country, with great excitement even among the non-sports fans who don’t know the first thing about basketball! There’s an increased sense of community and shared ownership, of pride in New York.
And so, at New York’s iconic American Museum of Natural History, there was a coronation of sorts, an unveiling of NBA’s Larry O’ Brien Trophy, first to the press and then to the general public.
The Larry O’Brien Trophy is owned by the league, distinct from the trophy presented to the Knicks. Featuring the names of every winning team since 1947, the NBA’s trophy is newly engraved with the 2025-26 season champion New York Knicks. Depicting a regulation-size basketball entering a net, it is crafted from sterling silver with gold vermeil by Tiffany & Co and weighs approximately 30 pounds.
“I think for many, the highlight of the summer in sports was the NBA championship of the New York Knicks, their first in 53 years. Something that really brought the city together, and energized the city,” said Sean M. Decatur, President, American Museum of Natural History. Earlier in the Spring, AMNH inaugurated For the Win: Objects of Sports Excellence that includes many objects that celebrate athletic accomplishment and team accomplishment and individual accomplishment in sports.
“As part of this exhibit, we’ve been in conversation with the NBA for many, many months about bringing the Larry O’Brien Trophy at the end of the season to be on display here at the museum. And of course, when we started those conversations oh so many months ago, we had no idea that the name that would be engraved on the trophy for this year are the New York Knicks, and so we are delighted to be able to have the the Larry O’Brien Trophy from the NBA here on display with the names of all of the NBA champions engraved and see and continue to relive the excitement of that moment earlier this summer.”
As he pointed out, the museum has a long history of telling stories about human culture and human achievement, and sports has certainly been a part of human culture. And so this is a collection of objects which show the ways that people have used gems and precious metals to celebrate sports accomplishment.
There is a large South Asian community in New York and I wondered if they were also drawn to this exhibit because their immigrant history of cricket is not yet reflected in the playing of American sports. The Knicks win has of course made every New Yorker a sports fan.
“Certainly, the way that the Knicks have excited and brought the city together, we’re anticipating that people really will be excited to come in,” said Decatur. “I do think that sports has a broad global appeal, and so one of the things we try to do in the exhibit is recognize the ways in which sports is important around the world, and that’s certainly true through the Olympics. It’s true through a lot of sports, which are s played by individuals and by teams with national pride around the world. We hope that people are interested and excited about coming in order to get a sense of the connection of sports as a global phenomenon.”
So, while the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Trophy was on display only till August 3, the exhibition For the Win: Objects of Sports Excellence will be there till the beginning of January, with its treasure trove of sports awards for every sport from football to basketball and baseball. It spans more than 15 sports and 150 years of history.
Featuring an extraordinary collection of trophies, rings, and unique awards, the exhibition showcases the tradition of using precious metals and gemstones to commemorate victory. It is on view in the Melissa and Keith Meister Gallery, within the Museum’s new Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals.
Highlights include the National Football League’s Vince Lombardi Trophy, one of Jesse Owens’s gold medals from the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, a 2024 WNBA Championship ring from New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart, and Kevin Durant’s 2024 Team USA Olympic gold medal. The exhibition features over 70 objects across more than 15 sports—including baseball, soccer, tennis, boxing, golf, and swimming, revealing how sports prizes have transformed over time from traditional medals and cups into increasingly elaborate symbols of achievement.
For immigrant families who have taken their children and teens to the iconic AMNH to see the dinosaurs, whales and space objects over the years, it is a good idea to now take them in to experience the inspiring world of sports memorabilia and glittering awards. Enough inspiration – and we may one day get an Indian-American Knicks superstar, a desi Jalen Brunson!
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