Euroleague April/May MVP: Kendrick Nunn
Nunn becomes just the third EuroLeague rookie to win the monthly MVP award that covers the playoffs period, after Ekpe Udoh and Bradon Davies
After his string of inspired performances catapulted a storied club back to center stage, Kendrick Nunn of Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens has been chosen by Euroleague Basketball as the April/May MVP in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Nunn, who didn’t join the Panathinaikos lineup until November, proved to be a difference-maker come April and May as the Greens secured home-court advantage with a second-place finish in an oh-so-tight regular-season race, and then used it to win an epic playoff series that went the distance.
The competition’s newest shooting star was at his best when it counted most, averaging 26.5 points in a pair of win-or-go-home victories against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv that sent Panathinaikos to the Final Four for the first time in 12 years.
Nunn joins rare rookie playoff deciders
The MVP of the Month is named by Euroleague Basketball based on his and his team’s performances. This latest monthly award covered the final two regular-season rounds, the Play-In Showdown and the playoffs, a span of pressure basketball stretching from April 4 to May 8. Panathinaikos compiled a 5-2 record in that stretch, with Nunn leading his team in scoring in all but two games, including Game 4 and Game 5 of the playoffs, when the Greens faced elimination.
Nunn becomes just the third EuroLeague rookie to win the monthly MVP award that covers the playoffs period, after Ekpe Udoh with Fenerbahce Istanbul in April of 2016 and Brandon Davies with Zalgiris Kaunas in April of 2018. He is the first Panathinaikos player to be so honored in more than five seasons since Nick Calathes won the March award with the Greens in 2019.