Jason Kidd has won the 2012-13 NBA Sportsmanship award.

Kidd won the award, which is given to a player who demonstrates ethical behavior, fair play and integrity, last season as well.

Luol Deng, Stephen Curry, Mike Conley, Nick Collison and Jameer Nelson were also nominated for the award.

Marc Gasol has been named the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year.

LeBron James finished second, with Serge Ibaka finishing third.

Joakim Noah and Tony Allen finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Tyson Chandler and Dwight Howard are the two most recent winners of the award. Howard was tied for 14th this season.

Paul George has won the NBA's 2012-13 Most Improved Player award.

George, in his third NBA season out of Fresno State, averaged 17.4 points, 7.6 rebounds 4.1 assists and 1.8 steals per game.

George's PER, however, increased from 16.5 to just 16.8.

George received 311 of a possible 1,080 points, including 52 first-place votes, from a panel of 120 sportswriters and broadcasters.

Greivis Vasquez of the New Orleans (146 points, 13 first-place votes) and the Milwaukee Bucks' Larry Sanders (141 points, 10 first-place votes) finished second and third, respectively.

J.R. Smith will be named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year.

Smith averaged 18.1 points per game on 42.2 percent shooting from the field this season. His previous career high in points came in 09-10 when he averaged 15.4.

Smith had a PER of 17.6, up from 15.2 last season.

The NBA announced Friday that the Toronto Raptors' Jonas Valanciunas and Portland Trail Blazers' Damian Lillard were named the Eastern and Western Conference Rookies of the Month, respectively, for games played in March.

Valanciunas ranked first among Eastern Conference rookies in rebounds (7.3 rpg), blocks (1.07 bpg), and field goal percentage (.620). He also ranked second in free throw percentage (.822) and fourth in scoring (11.4 ppg), reaching double figures in points in 11 of his last 12 games (March 6-31). Valanciunas is one of only two rookies (New Orleans' Anthony Davis) in the NBA averaging at least 8.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and shooting 50 percent from the floor this season.

Lillard, winner of his fifth consecutive Kia Rookie of the Month award, led all rookies in scoring (21.3 ppg), assists (6.8 apg), field goals (119), three-pointers (42) and free throws (61). In March, he became one of only four rookies in league history to record 1,390 points and 475 assists. Lillard also tied the all-time NBA rookie record for three-pointers in a season with 166.

The NBA announced Friday that LeBron James and Kevin Durant today have been awarded the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month, respectively, for games played in March.

James captured his fifth straight Eastern Conference Player of the Month award by helping the Miami Heat to a league-best 17-1 record as the team chased history, winning 27 straight games before falling to the Chicago Bulls 101-97 on March 27. The 27 consecutive victories are the second most in NBA history, trailing only the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers (33), while the Heat's 17 wins in a single month established a league record. James averaged 25.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 7.4 assists while shooting 53 percent from the field for the month. He scored at least 20 points 14 times and shot at least 50 percent from the field in 13 contests.

Durant guided the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 12-5 mark in March, averaging 27.6 points (tops in the NBA), 8.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists while shooting 48 percent from the field and 90 percent from the free throw line. On pace to win his fourth consecutive scoring title, Durant scored 20-plus points 16 times and topped the 30-point plateau on seven occasions. Averaging a career-best 4.4 assists, Durant dished out at least five assists seven times. He also recorded two-plus blocks in eight games.

Damian Lillard is the front-runner for the Rookie of the Year award this season and set a rookie mark for three-pointers made on Monday night.

Lillard downplayed the three-pointer achievement. He broke Stephen Curry's mark of 166 made during the 2009-10 season.

"I'm happy for him," coach Terry Stotts said. "It's something to be proud of. He's had a fantastic season. Anytime you can set an NBA record, it's impressive. There have been a lot of rookies in this league and that three-point line has been in since '79. That's impressive."

The record is nice, but Lillard wants to win games and become one of the league's best players.

"I think I can be a first team All-NBA, I think I can be an All-Star, I think I can be an MVP," he said. "That's just my opinion. I don't know when, but how I plan to work and how much better I want to be, I feel like anything is possible."

The Miami Heat's Erik Spoelstra and the Denver Nuggets' George Karl on Monday were named the NBA Eastern and Western Conference Coaches of the Month for March.

Spoelstra led Miami to a league-best 17-1 (.944) record in March, which included 15 straight wins to open the month that pushed the Heat's winning streak to 27 straight games. 

Karl led Denver to a Western Conference-best 13-2 (.867) mark in March, which included wins in the first 12 games of the month, feeding a 15-game winning streak that began on Feb. 23.

Other nominees for Coach of the Month were Dallas' Rick Carlisle, Indiana's Frank Vogel, Memphis' Lionel Hollins and New York's Mike Woodson.

J.R. Smith and Al Jefferson have been named the NBA's Players of the Week.

Smith led the Knicks to a 4-0 week which included two wins over the Boston Celtics and a win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Smith averaged 29.8 points (second in the league), 7.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals. He tallied three consecutive 30-plus point performances off the bench to open the week, including a season-high 37 on March 29 during a 111-102 win over the Charlotte Bobcats. The last NBA player to score 30-or-more off the bench in three consecutive games was the Milwaukee Bucks' Ricky Pierce in 1990.

Jefferson led the Jazz to a 4-0 record, which helped Utah pull back into a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference -- both teams own 38-36 (.514) records. He averaged 19.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.25 steals and 1.5 blocks. Jefferson's displayed his versatility with 20 points, seven rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks as the Jazz topped the Brooklyn Nets 116-107 on March 30 to seal the undefeated week.