The first-year guard starred in his rookie season
Tribute to the Champs: Kendrick Nunn
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Joining a team mid-season and becoming a star player is easier said than done, but Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens's Kendrick Nunn made it look easy.
The former Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers guard made his Turkish Airlines EuroLeague debut in Round 7 and needed a few weeks to find his feet. Once he did, having his first breakout game in Round 11 by scoring 19 points at Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade, there was no looking back.
From that point on, Nunn scored 10 points or more in all but two regular-season games and netted 20 or more eight times, giving him an average of 15.4 points per night as the Greens locked up the second seed entering the EuroLeague Playoffs.
Nunn had a slow start to the postseason by his lofty standards, scoring 8 points in Game 1 against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv and then 10 in Game 2, but then the American showed everyone why he is such a gifted scorer. Through Games 3, 4 and 5, Nunn averaged 26.0 points – scoring 25, 27 and 26, respectively – to fire Panathinaikos to its first Final Four in 13 years.
He didn’t stop there. In the semifinals, Nunn had 14 points – including 6 in the fourth quarter – to help Panathinaikos down Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 73-57 and set up a first championship game appearance since 2011. Then, in the title decider, Nunn posted 21 points, of which 8 came in the final period, to earn legend status and defeat Real Madrid to secure the Greens’ seventh star.
Nunn earned MVP of the Month honors for April/May and was named to the All-EuroLeague First Team, before winning his first EuroLeague championship. Not bad for a first season in Europe’s premier club basketball competition.