The Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year is an award given to the Big Ten Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1984–85 season. Only four players have won the award multiple times: Jim Jackson of Ohio State, Mateen Cleaves of Michigan State, Luka Garza of Iowa, and Zach Edey of Purdue. Ten players who won the Big Ten Player of the Year award were also named the national player of the year by one or more major voting bodies: Jim Jackson (1992), Calbert Cheaney of Indiana (1993), Glenn Robinson of Purdue (1994), Evan Turner of Ohio State (2010), Draymond Green of Michigan State (2012), Trey Burke of Michigan (2013), Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin (2015), Denzel Valentine of Michigan State (2016), Luka Garza of Iowa (2021), and Zach Edey of Purdue.

James Arthur Jackson is an American former professional basketball player. Over his 14 National Basketball Association (NBA) seasons, Jackson was on the active roster of 12 different teams, which was an NBA record shared with Joe Smith, Tony Massenburg, Chucky Brown, and Ish Smith; until Ish played with the Denver Nuggets, his 13th team, in the 2022–23 season. He is currently a basketball analyst for Fox Sports, Turner Sports and the Los Angeles Clippers on Bally Sports West, having previously worked for the Big Ten Network. Jim Jackson also works as an analyst for the NBA Playoffs on NBATV.