On Monday, the NBA announced that Chris Paul has been named Western Conference Player of the Week for games played from Monday, Dec. 11 through Sunday, Dec. 17 (Week 9). It is the 13th time Paul has received Player of the Week honors in his career and the first since January of 2016. He is the first Rocket not named James Harden to win the award since Goran Dragic in April of 2012.
For the week, Paul helped the Rockets to a 4-0 mark, while averaging 26.0 points (53.8% FGs, 45.7% 3FGs, 94.7% FTs), 7.8 assists, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.25 steals. The Rockets have won 13 in a row since Paul returned to the lineup and are outscoring opponents by an average of 15.9 points per game over that span. The 13-game winning streak is tied for the fourth-longest in franchise history.
Paul opened the week by helping the Rockets mount a fourth-quarter comeback against one of his former teams, New Orleans, on Monday, Dec. 11. He had a season-high 31 points, 11 assists and 7 rebounds against his hometown Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday. On Friday against division rival San Antonio, Paul tallied 28 points, 8 assists and an NBA season-high tying 7 steals. He capped off the week by scoring 23 of his 25 points during the second half of a four-point win over Milwaukee.
Paul has scored at least 20 points in each of the past five games, tying for his longest single season streak since the first six games of 2009-10. He has also hit three or more 3-pointers in four straight games for the first time in his career and is currently shooting a career-best 42.9% from behind-the-arc.
The Rockets are 14-0 when Paul plays this season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he is the first player to win each of his first 14 starts with a new team since starts were tracked in 1970-71. If he qualified, Paul would rank third in the NBA in assists (9.2 apg) and second in steals (2.36). He has the most assists and steals of any active player and ranks 10th and 14th in those categories all-time.