The New York Knicks’ 2025–26 NBA championship trophy is getting a museum moment.
Formally known as the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, the championship award is going on view at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), as part of the exhibition “For the Win: Objects of Sports Excellence.” The trophy will be unveiled at the museum on July 27th. “For the Win” will be on view through January 3, 2027.
Designed by Tiffany & Co., the trophy depicts a regulation-size basketball entering a net, cast in sterling silver with gold vermeil and weighing about 30 pounds. It bears the name of every NBA champion since 1947 and takes its name from Larry O’Brien, who served as the league’s commissioner from 1975 to 1984.
The trophy’s arrival marks a full-circle moment for “For the Win,” which opened in May. Among its roughly 70 objects—spanning 15 sports and nearly 150 years of athletic history—is a basketball-shaped fob presented to former Knicks head coach Red Holzman after the team’s 1973 championship, its last before this year’s win.
“When we opened ‘For the Win,’ Red Holzman’s 1973 Knicks championship fob was the piece that connected this city to its basketball past,” said guest curator Vikki Tobak in a statement. “Now the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Trophy arrives with the Knicks’ names freshly engraved on it, and that circle closes in a way we never could have planned.”
AMNH president Sean M. Decatur framed the trophy’s arrival as part of a broader moment. “This championship has given New Yorkers an extraordinary moment to celebrate together,” he said, calling the trophy “a powerful symbol of athletic achievement.”
Other highlights in “For the Win” include one of Jesse Owens’s gold medals from the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the NFL’s Vince Lombardi Trophy, and the New York Liberty’s 2024 WNBA championship trophy. Tobak curates the exhibition in partnership with Rich Kleiman, the CEO of the sports entertainment company Boardroom, and with Kate Kiseeva, associate curator in the Museum’s Division of Physical Sciences.
