Japanese basketball legend Takehiko Orimo of the Levanga Hokkaido was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award on Friday, headlining the first day of the 2019-20 B. League Award Show.
For the past three years, the annual season-ending ceremony has been a lavish one-day event held in a theatre or in an outside space and with fans also invited. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the league decided to host the event online over three days this year. It is being streamed live on the B. League's YouTube channel.
The league had one-third of the regular season remaining when it canceled 2019-20 campaign on March 27 in response to the pandemic. While that meant there would be no league champion this year, the pro circuit decided to go ahead with its awards ceremony.