BROOKLYN – The NBA announced today that Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played from Monday, Jan. 11, through Sunday, Jan. 17. The honor is Durant’s first as a Net and the 27th Player of the Week award of his career.
Durant led Brooklyn to a 3-0 week, recording averages of 34.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 1.3 blocks in 35.4 minutes per game while shooting 61.3 percent from the field, 60.0 percent from 3-point range and 87.5 percent from the free-throw line. His 34.0 points per game were the most points per game in the league among players to appear in multiple games in the week. Durant opened the week by registering a game-high 34 points, nine rebounds and a season-high 13 assists, one short of matching his career-high, in 36 minutes, and leading Brooklyn back from an 18-point deficit to earn a 122-116 victory over the Denver Nuggets at Barclays Center on Jan. 12. He followed up that performance by notching a team-high 26 points, three rebounds, six assists and two blocks in 30 minutes in a 116-109 road victory over the New York Knicks on Jan. 13. Durant rounded out the week by tallying a season-high 42 points with four rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals in 40 minutes in a 122-115 win over the Orlando Magic in Brooklyn on Jan. 16.
Durant is the 26th player in franchise history to earn Player of the Week honors and the first since Spencer Dinwiddie on Nov. 25, 2019.
In his 14th NBA season, Durant has appeared in 10 games and is averaging 30.7 points (second in the NBA) on 54.8 percent shooting from the field, 48.3 percent shooting from 3-point range and 86.7 percent shooting from the free-throw line, 6.9 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.0 blocks in 34.9 minutes per game. Through those 10 games, Durant has set franchise records for consecutive games scoring 25 or more points (nine), the most points scored through a player’s first 10 career games as a Net (307) and the most points scored by a Net in their first 10 games in a season. His 307 points also represent the second-most scored by a player in their first 10 games with a new team in NBA history, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain’s 371 points scored in the first 10 games of his NBA career with the Philadelphia Warriors from Oct. 24 – Nov. 15, 1959.