NBA Announces Players of the Week on Monday
The 2021-22 NBA season is coming to an end and for the second-to-last week of the regular season, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young were named the Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively.
This marks the second time this season that Jokic and Young have been named their conference’s Player of the Week in the same week (Week 14, Jan 17-23).
Nikola Jokic has now been named Western Conference Player of the Week twice this season and Trae Young has now been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week three different times, tying him for second in the league with Minnesota Timberwolves’ Karl-Anthony Towns for the second-most times being named “Player of the Week” in either conference this year.
WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Nikola Jokic - Denver Nuggets
Helping the Nuggets go 3-1 this past week, Nikola Jokic continues to amaze the NBA world with his play. Almost being a “point-center," Jokic has redefined the center position across the league and the reigning league-MVP has tightened things up in this season’s MVP conversation.
Averaging 34.8 points, 17.3 rebounds, 8.5 assists and 2.0 steals this past week, Nikola Jokic helped the Nuggets pick up victories over the Charlotte Hornets, Indiana Pacers and Los Angeles Lakers, all of which were road games.
Nikola Jokic has led the Nuggets in both scoring and rebounding for 16 straight games now and Denver is now 47-32 on the season, currently 0.5 games up on the Utah Jazz for the the 5-seed in the Western Conference.
With Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. missing either all of most of the 2021-22 season, the Nuggets' MVP has really stepped up and has pieced together an even better season than he had a year ago when he was named the recipient of the 2020-21 NBA MVP award.
EASTERN CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Trae Young - Atlanta Hawks
Almost no other guard in the league has had as consistent of a season as Trae Young has had in Atlanta. The Hawks have struggled this year, as they are only 41-37 on the season, but this is not because of Young’s play.
Averaging 30.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 10.8 assists and shooting 46.2% from the floor this past week, Trae Young helped the Hawks go 4-0, picking up critical victories over the Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Cleveland Cavaliers and Brooklyn Nets.
Atlanta is now on a 5-game win streak and with four games remaining on their schedule, the Hawks sit one game up in the Eastern Conference standings on both the Charlotte Hornets and the Brooklyn Nets, currently owning the tiebreaker over Charlotte due to Atlanta having a better conference record.
All season long, Trae Young has carried the Hawks and after averaging 10.8 assists this past week, he now ranks third in the league in assists per game on the season league-wide (9.6), trailing just James Harden (10.1) and Chris Paul (10.7) for the league-lead.
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