NBA Award Watch: Wade, Kanter and Durant make first appearances
With Week 6 in the books, we’re handing out awards to NBA players for their amazing performances, showcasing different skills — on and off the court.
This past week, we’ve seen the Cleveland Cavaliers continue their winning streak, the Boston Celtics hold a strong grip over the East and the Golden State Warriors just toy with their opponents. The Oklahoma City Thunder are on the verge of another player’s only team meeting, while the Philadelphia 76ers are gelling behind their young core.
In this weekly column, I’ll start to hand out awards based on the performances of the previous week. Obviously, some weeks I’ll take a look at the major NBA honors, including MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Coach of the Year, Most Improved Player and Executive of the Year. Other than these usual honors, I’ll also hand out awards for the Best Dunk, Dazzling Dime, Perfect Play, Fantastic Fashion and Terrific Tweet.
Let’s go ahead and select winners for the sixth week in the #NBAAwardWatch.
Terrific Tweet
Enes Kanter has surprisingly productive for the New York Knicks. When Carmelo Anthony was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Knicks were viewed as the team that’s getting nothing in return, but with Kanter, they truly may have a role player for the future.
But Kanter’s best work may not be on the court, it may be on Twitter. LeBron James and Kanter have this little off-the-court rivalry brewing since James was trying to take shots at the Knicks for not drafting Dennis Smith Jr. Kanter responded after the Cavaliers thrashed the Knicks earlier this month, but I guess it was still on his mind this week.
https://twitter.com/Enes_Kanter/status/935693776697331712
As LeBron was ejected from the Cavaliers-Heat game this past week, Kanter took to make a joke out of it, calling the referee “King of Cleveland” and using the same hashtags that James did in his Instagram post after the Knicks-Cavaliers game.
Just for reference, the Cavs don’t play New York till February, you might want to mark that game on your calendar. The King of Cleveland, the real King, might be coming after Kanter and Co.