BROOKLYN – The NBA announced today that Brooklyn Nets guard D’Angelo Russell has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played from Monday, Jan. 14, through Sunday, Jan. 20. This is the first career Player of the Week award for Russell.
Russell led Brooklyn to a 3-0 record on the week, registering averages of 28.0 points (53.2 percent from the field and 53.1 percent from 3-point range), 3.3 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.0 steals in 32.7 minutes per game. Russell began the week by recording 34 points (13-of-26 FG, 7-of-13 3FG), five rebounds and seven assists in a 109-102 victory over the Celtics on Jan. 14. He followed up that performance by notching 10 points and seven assists in Houston on Jan. 16, helping the Nets erase a 14-point deficit to earn a 145-142 overtime win. Russell rounded out the week by scoring a career-high-tying 40 points (16-of-25 FG, 8-of-12 3FG) to go along with seven assists and just one turnover in Orlando on Jan. 18. Russell scored 19 consecutive points in the second quarter, which marked the most consecutive points scored by any player this season, and became the fourth player in NBA history to record 40 or more points, eight or more 3-pointers made, seven or more assists and one or fewer turnovers in a game. The 22-year-old helped Brooklyn erase a 21-point deficit, which marked the team’s biggest comeback victory since December 2011.
Russell is the 24th player in Nets history to win the award and is the first since Brook Lopez was named Player of the Week on Jan. 3, 2016.
In his fourth NBA season (second season with the Nets), Russell is averaging a career-high 19.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and a career-high 6.4 assists in 29.5 minutes per game. In nine games played this month, Russell is averaging 23.2 points (50.3 percent from the field, 43.8 percent from 3-point range and 92.9 percent from the free-throw line), 3.7 rebounds and 7.4 assists in 30.8 minutes per contest, leading the team to a 7-2 record.