Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Houston Rockets guard James Harden have been named the Kia NBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month, respectively, for games played in December.
Antetokounmpo, who has won back-to-back Player of the Month awards this season, finished the last month of the calendar year with 29.3 points, 12 rebounds and 5.3 assists. Harden, meanwhile, continues to lead the league in scoring after averaging 37.3 points to go along with 5.6 rebounds and 6.9 assists in the month of December.
Both players are listed in the first returns for NBA All-Star voting, with Antetokounmpo leading all Eastern Conference players in votes and Harden ranking second in votes amongst Western Conference guards.
The best of Giannis in December:
29.5 PPG (1st in East) | 12.4 RPG | 5.2 APG pic.twitter.com/X9HeFbxNNH
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) January 2, 2020
@JHarden13 / December Stats
37.3 PTS
6.9 AST
5.6 REB
2.1 STL
1.2 BLK
48.1% from the floor, 42.5% from 3-point range and 85.0% from the foul linehttps://t.co/bpYRafybCW pic.twitter.com/wyVmxK5Acv
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) January 2, 2020
Rookies of the Month
Miami Heat guard Kendrick Nunn and Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant have been named the Kia NBA Eastern and Western Conference Rookies of the Month, respectively, for games played in December.
Nunn and Morant also won the award in October/November following a stellar start to the season.
The first-year guards continue to maintain the lead in our latest Kia Rookie Ladder, and their stats from last month are nearly identical. Nunn averaged 15.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 0.5 steals in the month for Miami, while Morant averaged 15.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 0.5 steals in the December games he played for Memphis.
Caught up with @JaMorant after he found out about the award. #GrzNxtGen pic.twitter.com/LVXVdsULGF
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) January 2, 2020
Back to back @Kia Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month awards.
Congrats on an amazing December, @nunnbetter_! pic.twitter.com/lsMNIosu01
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 2, 2020
Coaches of the Month
Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer and Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan have been named the NBA Eastern and Western Conference Coaches of the Month, respectively, for games played in December.
Over the course of the month, Budenholzer guided Milwaukee to an NBA-best 13-2 record, while Donovan led Oklahoma City to an 11-4 record, good enough for first among Western Conference teams.
NBA Coaches of the Month for December!
East: Mike Budenholzer (@Bucks)
West: Billy Donovan (@okcthunder) pic.twitter.com/wnQ2MLZhtn— NBA (@NBA) January 2, 2020
