New York, Jun 15 (EFE).- Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson is set to be honored with the NBA’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual awards ceremony that the NBA will be holding for the most outstanding professionals during the regular season, the NBA said Friday.
The Lifetime Achievement Award will be the second to be awarded and the NBA awards ceremony is scheduled for Jun. 25.
Robertson, the league’s all-time leader in triple-doubles with 181, was the first player in NBA history to average a triple-double – double figures in points, rebounds and assists – for an entire season.
Besides receiving the NBA Rookie of the Year award in 1961 and MVP in 1964, he won the NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971.
He was also selected in nine times for All-NBA First Team honors and named among the NBA’s 50 greatest players of all time.
Robertson co-captained the 1960 US team that won an Olympic gold medal and led Crispus Attucks High School to consecutive Indiana state titles, the first all African-American team in the nation to win a state title.
He was also the president of the National Basketball Players Association from 1965-74, and the settlement of his anti-trust lawsuit against the NBA, known as the Oscar Robertson Rule, ushered in free agency in the league.
Last year, when the new award was given away for he first time, the NBA Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred upon another NBA Legend and Basketball Hall of Famer, Bill Russell, former center of the Boston Celtics.