NBA: Everything You Need to Know About the First Quarter Awards

The first quarter of the NBA season came to an end with records broken and history made. However, the event that gained the most amount of attention from all the NBA fans was the award ceremony. The awards included: Player of the Quarter, Most Improved of the Quarter, Rookie of the Quarter, Sixth Man of the Quarter, and Defensive Player of the Quarter.

Player of the Quarter and Defensive Player of the Quarter both went to the star player of the Milwaukee Buck, Giannis Antetokounmpo. There was a lot of controversy with Giannis winning the Player of the Quarter because other candidates, such as James Harden, Luka Doncic, and LeBron, were all very strong players. However, Giannis Antetokounmpo, having also won the MVP award last year, has proven everyone his eligibility for this year’s awards. Giannis averaged 30.9 points this first quarter and had a player efficiency rating of 33.8 when the league average is only 15. The bucks are also 21-3 with Giannis Antetokounmpo being the key player.

Most Improved of the Quarter went to Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks. An interesting fact about Luka Doncic is that he won the Rookie of the Year last year and already became the star player and the leader of the Dallas Mavericks in his second year in the NBA. Despite being rather “new”, he has improved substantially since last year and is in the conversation for the MVP race for this NBA season. When Marco L., a junior, saw this award, he said, “I can not believe how much better he became, even though he was [already] insane last year”.

Rookie of the Quarter went to Ja Morant from the Memphis Grizzlies. He was picked 2nd overall in the 2019 NBA draft right after Zion Willamson. In Grizzlies, Ja Morant plays the point guard, so he has control over the offense in hand. He is in lead for points and assists per game among all the rookies. Sophmore student Heer P. said, “It is fun to watch him play and it is unbelievable that he is a rookie.”

Sixth Man of the Quarter went to the Los Angeles Clippers’ second-unit player, Montrezl Harrell. Although he is a bench player, he has averaged 19.1 points per game. Another candidate for this award, Lou William, has won the Sixth Man of the Year last year and almost continued the streak this year.

As a person who follows the NBA, it is interesting how more and more international players such as Giannis and Luka are getting nominated for these awards. Normally, American basketball players are the ones who win these awards, but these international players are adding diversity to the NBA.