Panathinaikos’ megastar Kendrick Nunn has been named as the April/May MVP in the EuroLeague. The American scoring guard, who didn’t join the Greens 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 the regular season, and then went on to win an epic playoff series against Maccabi Tel-Aviv
The competition’s newest shooting star was at his best when it counted most, averaging 26.5 points in a pair of elimination games against the Israelis that sent Panathinaikos to the Final Four for the first time in 12 years.
Kendrick Nunn takes over for Panathinaikos in EuroLeague playoffs
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.
Panathinaikos put together a 5-2 record in that stretch, with Kendrick Nunn leading his team in scoring in all but two games, including Game 4 and Game 5 of the postseason, 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 (April of 2016) and Brandon Davies with Zalgiris Kaunas (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.
At the end of the series, Kendrick Nunn’s 96 points ranked second all-time among playoff winners since best-of-five became the standard in 2009, and his 34 field goals made set a new record for winners.
He finished with a playoffs-high scoring average of 19.2 points while making 16 of 31 three-pointers (51.6%) and 12 of 14 fere throws (85.7%). Nunn and Panathinaikos will now face Fenerbahce for a spot in the Championship Game.
