Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year


The Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an award given to the Big 12 Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1996–97 season, the first year of conference competition but three years after the conference's official formation. It is selected by the league's head coaches, who are not allowed to vote for their own players. Kansas has had the most individual winners of the award with 12.
Only two players have won the award multiple times: Raef LaFrentz of Kansas, who won the first two awards in 1997 and 1998, and Buddy Hield of Oklahoma, who won the award in 2015 and 2016.
Four freshmen have won the award: Kevin Durant of Texas, Michael Beasley of Kansas State, Marcus Smart of Oklahoma State, and Cade Cunningham of Oklahoma State.
Ten current Big 12 institutions have yet to have a winner. Baylor is the only continuously present charter member without a winner. Another charter member, Colorado, left for the Pac-12 Conference in 2011 but returned in 2024. Two others joined in the 2010s: TCU in 2011 and West Virginia in 2012. The other six made their Big 12 debuts in the 2020s: BYU, Cincinnati, and UCF in 2023–24, and Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah in 2024–25.
In addition, two former Big 12 institutions never had a winner of the award during their tenure in the Big 12: Missouri and Texas A&M.

Winners

SeasonPlayerSchoolPositionClassReference
1996–97KansasPF
1997–98 KansasPF
1998–99NebraskaC
1999–00Iowa StatePF
2000–01Iowa StatePG
2001–02KansasPF
2002–03KansasPF
2003–04Oklahoma StateSG
2004–05KansasPF
2005–06TexasSF
2006–07*TexasSF
2007–08Kansas StatePF
2008–09*OklahomaPF
2009–10Oklahoma StateSG
2010–11KansasPF
2011–12KansasPF
2012–13Oklahoma StatePG
2013–14Iowa StateSF
2014–15OklahomaSG
2015–16* OklahomaSG
2016–17*KansasPG
2017–18KansasPG
2018–19Texas TechSG
2019–20KansasC
2020–21Oklahoma StateG
2021–22KansasSG
2022–23KansasF
2023–24HoustonPG
2024–25Texas TechPF