Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo have been named the NBA’s players of the week, the league announced (via Twitter). It’s the second straight player of the week award for both players.
Lillard, who won for the Western Conference, led Portland to a 3-1 week by averaging 38.3 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 6.8 APG on .500/.383/.981 shooting in 39.6 MPG. The veteran point guard was recently named an All-Star for the seventh time.
Antetokounmpo, the East’s winner, led Milwaukee to a 3-0 week by averaging 41.0 PPG, 17.3 RPG and 5.7 APG on .585/.231/.649 shooting in 36.0 MPG. He had a 54-point, 18-rebound effort versus the Clippers, plus a 35-point, 15-rebound, 11-assist triple-double against Miami.
Lillard has now been named the West’s player of the week three times this season, while Antetokounmpo has won the Eastern award four times.
According to the NBA (Twitter link), the other nominees in the West were Mikal Bridges, Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Kawhi Leonard, while Joel Embiid, Markelle Fultz, Darius Garland, Dejounte Murray and Cam Thomas were nominated in the East.
These awards are stupid IMHO because they reward a relatively small sample size. Not to mention not all players play the same number of games per week.
I think the league needs to introduce some sort of tally system where whomever collects the most POTW awards can redeem them, sort of like tickets at Chuck e cheese. Maybe 5 and the league donates 5M to charity. Or if you get 10 you can redeem them for a pick up truck or holograph jersey.
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DRose, Fournier, Obi, Cam, IQ, Dal’s 2023 1st, NYK’s 2023 1st, NYK’s 2025 1st & NYK’s 2027 1st for Dame & JWinslow… Dame goes to a Knick squad w/ Brunson/Juju/Mitch/RJ. Def the best team NYK had since the Woodson era… Portland trades the boy while he still has immense value. They get 3 young guys that they can add to their rebuild. They also get 2picks in the upcoming draft, 2 more future 1sts & a lot of future cap flexibility