BY: Donovan Holden
We are ten weeks into the NBA season, and we are seeing many repeats for Player of the Week honors. Both of these superstars have already been awarded Player of the Week this season, and rightfully so with them both playing at the top of their game. Both Devin Booker and Giannis Antetokounmpo have something to prove this season, and we have certainly seen flashes of that recently.
Eastern Conference: Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Team: Milwaukee Bucks
- Stats: 37 PTS, 10.7 REB, 5.7 AST
- Team record during this stretch: 3-0
The back-to-back MVP has something to prove this season for a few reasons, first because there is a lot of hype surrounding the fact that Giannis won’t 3-peat for MVP awards, and the second is because of the early exit from last year’s playoffs. As of late Giannis has been able to silence some of this noise surrounding himself, and the Bucks.
Not only did he lead the Bucks to 3 victories in week 10, but he also scored at least 35 in each of the three games as well. That extends his career-long streak of scoring 35 points to four games, and he also joined Kareem Abdul-Jabar as the only players in Bucks history to have a 35-point scoring streak of four games or more. Giannis also grabbed double-digit rebound totals twice during week 10, and now has recorded a double-double in 24 of his last 34 games.
Giannis is putting up MVP like numbers yet again, but I am not sure he is too interested in that trophy this season. The Bucks traded away a lot of their future to bring in Jrue Holiday to play alongside Giannis, and this team has their eyes on winning the championship. Giannis gets another Player of the Week honor under his belt, but the fans are watching for him to produce much more than that.
Western Conference: Devin Booker
- Team: Phoenix Suns
- Stats: 33 PTS, 2.8 REB, 4.3 AST
- Team record during this stretch: 3-1
Devin Booker had himself quite the week during week 10 of the NBA, first he was “snubbed” of being an All-Star, then he was made an All-Star when he replaced Anthony Davis due to injury, and then he finished the week with being the Western Conference’s best player. He averaged more points (33) than minutes played (32.3) during the week, and shot a total of 53.8% from the field. Booker has led the Suns to win 11 of their last 13, and they hold their best record through a season’s first 33 games since 2007-2008.
The former Wildcat posted a season high 43 points on Sunday night against the Timberwolves, and scored at least 33 points in three of the week’s four games. Booker’s only two selections ever for this award came in the last three weeks, and he is the first Sun to win multiple Players of the Week in the same season since Amar’e Stoudemire did it twice in the 2007-08 season.
Booker and his backcourt mate Chris Paul are both NBA All-Stars this year, and look to keep improving on their recent success in Phoenix. While he was honored with this award in week 10, some of his peers even referred to him as, “the most disrespected player in the league”.
Booker has had his name all over the national media lately, but let’s see if he can continue to produce on the hardwood at this rate.
Donovan’s Honorable Mentions:
Eastern Conference: Russell Westbrook
- Team: Washington Wizards
- Stats: 22.2 PTS, 11.6 REB, 9 AST
- 2 triple-doubles on the week (both in victories)
Western Conference: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- Team: Oklahoma City Thunder
- Stats: 26.5 PTS, 5 REB, 4.8 AST
- Dropped 42 points in a win on February 24th (Career High)
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