The National Basketball Association announced Monday that DeMar DeRozan has been selected as Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played January 9-15. He is the first player in team history to win the honour three times in the same season. DeRozan was named East player of the week for games played November 7-13 and December 12-18. Vince Carter (1999-00, 2003-04), Chris Bosh (2009-10) and Kyle Lowry (2015-16) had been named player of the week twice inthe same season for Toronto.
DeRozan finished the week averaging 30.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting .515 (35-for-68) from the field and .875 (21-for-24) at the free throw line as the Raptors defeated three division rivals. He scored a season-high 41 points January 10 during Toronto's 114-106 victory over Boston, including 12 points in the fourth quarter. DeRozan led the team with 28 points January 13 versus Brooklyn as the Raptors set a franchise-record for points (132) in a non-overtime time game. He finished the week with 23 points January 17 versus New York in a 116-101 win, tying a career high with 12 consecutive games with 20-or-more points (December 23 – January 15).
DeRozan, a native of Compton, California, is tied for fifth in NBA scoring averaging a careerbest 28.1 points. He also ranks second in the NBA with 404 field goals made and fourth with 300 free throws made. DeRozan was selected ninth overall by Toronto in the 2009 NBA Draft and recently became the team's all-time leader scorer (10,558 points) and games played (561).
