1) Billy Ray Bates, Trail Blazers, March 23, 1980

The NBA Player of the Week award germinated in the ’79-’80 season. The first recipient was Julius Erving and the list of winners that year reads like a who’s who of the league’s other biggest stars: Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Dennis Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, George Gervin, and Adrian Dantley. But it also includes Bates, then a rookie shooting guard for Portland who would last just four seasons in the NBA before drug and weight issues derailed his career. He seemingly came out of nowhere, drafted in the third round by the Rockets in 1979 out of Kentucky State, cut during training camp, and dominating the CBA before getting a call-up from Portland just after the All-Star break. The Blazers were struggling to hold on to the #8 seed in the playoffs and Bates almost single-handedly saved their season, scoring 20+ points in four crucial games down the stretch, before averaging 25.0 points per game in a first round series loss to Seattle. He quickly became a sensation across the league but almost as swiftly flamed out due to his inability to handle the rigors of basketball fame. His career did find a second life in the Philippines, where he became generally regarded as the greatest foreign-born player in the history of the country’s top pro league.

2) Jeremy Lin, Knicks, February 12, 2012

22 years after Billy Ray Bates captured the imagination of NBA fans, Lin-sanity broke out across the league. Though his rookie season with the Warriors didn’t have many highlights, Lin did gain a bit of a following as the first Taiwanese-American player in league history. He was cut by Golden State immediately after the 2011 lockout, then signed and cut again by the Rockets, and contemplating a career in China when the Knicks signed him just after Christmas, due to injuries to Iman Shumpert and Baron Davis. With the team floundering a month later, having lost 11 out of 13 games, coach Mike D’Antoni essentially inserted Lin into the rotation on a whim and the young point guard responded with a 25 points, seven assist performance in a win over the Nets. With the urging of Carmelo Anthony, who was missing games due to injury at the time, D’Antoni shifted Lin into the starting lineup the next game and the rest is history. In the 12 remaining games in February, Lin averaged 22.3 points and 9.0 assists per game, leading New York to wins in nine of those contests and sparking a national phenomenon on SportsCenter and social media. A sore knee in late March was diagnosed as a meniscus tear, forcing an end to Lin’s season and his career never fully recovered. His Player of the Week award is likely the only individual accolade of his NBA career (there was a failed petition during Lin-sanity to have him added to the All-Star roster), but he did eventually win a title as a backup point guard for the Raptors in 2019.

3) Harold Pressley, Kings, April 10, 1988

The ’80s were mostly a rough decade for the Kings. After a surprise trip to the Conference Finals in 1981, led by All-Star Otis Birdsong, the franchise made just two playoff appearances the rest of the decade, both first round losses, and didn’t have a single player make a further All-Star roster. Late in the ’87-’88 season, while floundering yet again in the standings, the team made its fourth coaching change in less than two years, firing Bill Russell and bringing back Jerry Reynolds. He inserted Pressley into the starting lineup in late March due to injuries, and the second year wing scorer never relented the spot, even as Reggie Theus came back healthy. A first round pick in 1986 after helping Villanova to their shocking 1985 NCAA title, Pressley was lightly used in his rookie season but made the most of his opportunity here. He scored a career high 29 points, along with seven rebounds and six assists in a win over the Spurs, then topped it two games later, with 31 points and 11 rebounds in an upset over the Warriors. He was named Player of the Week on April 10, breaking up a streak of two straight wins by Michael Jordan. It would turn out to be easily the peak of Pressley’s career, as he returned to the bench for the majority of the ’88-’89 and ’89-’90 seasons before leaving the NBA for a successful career in the Spanish Liga ACB.

4) Chris Wilcox, SuperSonics, April 9, 2006

Like so many lottery picks of the Clippers in the late ’90s and early ’00s, Wilcox was a square peg in the team’s round hole of a rotation, and he fell out of favor early in his fourth season, ’05-’06. He was traded right before the deadline to Seattle for Vladimir Radmanovic, in a swap of disappointing stretch power forward lottery picks. After a surprise 50-win season in ’04-’05, the Sonics were struggling and looking to shake up their rotation. Wilcox came along slowly but eventually took over as the starting power forward and had a break out in late March, with 16 points and a career high 19 rebounds in a loss to Sacramento. Though the Sonics were out of the playoff chase by then, he did lead them on a four-game win streak in the first week of April, averaging 21.5 points and 14.8 rebounds per game during that stretch. This included a performance against the Rockets with 26 points and career high 24 rebounds that was not only the highest total from a Seattle player in 23 years (dating back to Jack Sikma), but also the first 20/20 by a Sonic in 11 years (since Shawn Kemp). Wilcox slowed down late the season and never reached those heights again, though he did have two more solid seasons as Seattle’s starting power forward. He was ultimately the 11th and final Seattle SuperSonic to ever win Player of the Week, as the franchise moved to Oklahoma City two years later.

5) Terry Mills, Pistons, December 8, 1996

Already a high school and college star in Michigan, where he led his teams to championships at both levels, Mills returned to his home state in 1992 as a free agent signee of the Pistons. The team was beginning its painful rebuild from the Bad Boys days and when Dennis Rodman was traded to San Antonio, Mills took advantage of available playing time at power forward, averaging career highs in points (17.3) and rebounds (8.4) per game in ’93-’94. But it was three years later, when he found himself in a crowded rotation at that starting spot with several players including his cousin, Grant Long, that Mills had his Player of the Week surprise win. In three consecutive Pistons wins in early December in the ’96-’97 season, Mills, who was such a sweet shooter that Pistons announcer George Blaha nicknamed him “Sugar,” tied the NBA record with 13 consecutive three-pointers made. He shot 7-of-8 from three-point range while scoring 25 points in a win over the Hawks, then a perfect 6-for-6 against the Cavs, followed by a 4-of-8 performance against the Nets. He wound up averaging just 10.8 points per game for the season, but did finish 10th in the NBA in total three-point field goals, and eighth in three-point shooting percentage.

6) Larry Smith, Warriors, March 8, 1981 and March 29, 1987

Never a big scorer, Smith’s rebounding prowess was what sustained his 13-season NBA career and propelled him to two Player of the Week awards, six years apart. The first came in his rookie season, when the Warriors power forward averaged 17.8 rebounds in a four game stretch, including 23 in one game against the Trail Blazers. He wound up averaging 12.1 rebounds per game for the season, good for third in the NBA, and was named 1st-Team All-Rookie. For the next several seasons, Smith remained a steady but unspectacular presence in the Warriors lineup until he had another shining moment late in the ’86-’87 season. Just as the Warriors were fighting to reach the playoffs for the first time in a decade, Smith averaged 19.3 rebounds per game during a late season three-game winning streak, finishing it off with 14 points and 24 rebounds, plus some hampering defense on Karl Malone, in a win over the Jazz (Malone was one of the finalists for the award that was beat out by Smith, as were Larry Bird and Clyde Drexler). After nine seasons with the Warriors, Smith departed as a free agent in 1989 and played four more years with the Rockets and Spurs before retiring.

7) Lucious Harris, Nets, December 29, 2002

For the first 20 years of its existence, the Player of the Week award was handed out to just one player, but in ’01-’02 the NBA bumped it to one per conference. The first surprise player to take advantage of this expansion was Harris in in ’02-’03. He won it just one week after his Nets teammate, Jason Kidd, had been deemed Eastern Conference Player of the Week. A veteran bench shooting guard, Harris averaged a career high 10.3 points per game in ’02-’03, his 10th NBA season, thanks to increased playing time due to an injury to Kerry Kittles. His peak came in late December, averaging 19.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in a four game stretch, all wins (part of an overall 10-game winning streak). It was an especially gratifying honor for Harris coming off his disappointing performance in the 2002 NBA Finals loss to the Lakers, when he missed 17 of his first 19 attempts from the field while struggling with the effects from a facial bone fracture.

8) Tom McMillen, Bullets, January 27, 1985

Likely the only member of this list who delayed his NBA career to study at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, McMillen was a superstar in high school in Pennsylvania and college at Maryland but mostly just a role player in 11 NBA seasons with the Braves, Knicks, Hawks, and Bullets. His Player of the Week designation came late in his career, at age 32, in his penultimate pro season. It was his second year with the Bullets, who had traded for him in 1983 to be a capable veteran backup to their star young center, Jeff Ruland. McMillen averaged just 8.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game in his three seasons in Washington (which were close to his career averages) but for one week in late January of 1985 he played like a superstar. Injuries to not just Ruland but also Rick Mahorn forced McMillan into major minutes, and he responded with a 19-point performance against Cleveland, 26 points against Golden State, 15 points and 15 rebounds against Dallas (before fouling out), and then a career high 37 points against Phoenix. All four of those games were Bullets wins and McMillen was awarded for his efforts. He played ok in ensuing games but inconsistently, and by late February was back on the bench in favor of the returning Mahorn. McMillen retired after the ’85-’86 season to pursue a political career, eventually representing Maryland in the U.S. House of Representatives for six years.

“When Los Angeles acquired Spencer Haywood before the ’79-’80 season, they traded Carr to Cleveland for a pair of second round picks, sending him from the early germination of Showtime to the NBA version of purgatory.”

9) Kenny Carr, Cavaliers, February 1, 1981

One in a long line of ’70s NCAA stars that never lived up to full expectations in the NBA but Carr certainly showed flashes of it in the middle section of the ’80-’81 season. Initially drafted by the Lakers with the sixth pick in 1977 after a star turn at N.C. State, he struggled to find minutes in a crowded forward rotation that included Jamaal Wilkes, Kermit Washington, and Adrian Dantley. When Los Angeles acquired Spencer Haywood before the ’79-’80 season, they traded Carr to Cleveland for a pair of second round picks, sending him from the early germination of Showtime to the NBA version of purgatory. Though his time with the Cavs was inconsistent at best, Carr had a strong run in ’80-’81, starting on the day after Thanksgiving, when he tallied 19 points and 20 rebounds, completely outclassing Elvin Hayes in a win over the Bullets. He later added 31 points and 17 rebounds in a mid-December win over Denver, then 26 points and 18 rebounds in a late January win over Phoenix. That last performance is what earned him Player of the Week honors, which was somewhat dubious in that in came for a week in which Carr also put up just seven points and eight rebounds (with five turnovers) in a blowout loss to the Pistons. Perhaps voters were swayed by the award being handed out on February 1st, the same day the All-Star Game was being hosted for the first time in Cleveland. ’80-’81 would turn out to be the peak of Carr’s career statistically, with 15.2 points and 10.3 rebounds per game overall, though he also had some solid years later on with Portland and ultimately lasted 10 seasons in the NBA.

10) Elliot Perry, Suns, November 20, 1994

After a star career at Memphis, Perry fell to the second round of the 1991 NBA Draft, was waived by the Clippers, Hornets, and Trail Blazers in his first year in the league, and joined the CBA. When a second chance in the NBA came later with the Suns he took full advantage, breaking out in the ’94-’95 season. Kevin Johnson suffered a knee injury in the preseason (thanks to Shaquille O’Neal falling on him) and Perry took over as starting point guard for 51 games. He was masterful running the offense, averaging 15.0 points, 6.4 assists, and 4.4 steals per game in his first five starts, leading the Suns to wins in four of him and earning Player of the Week honors. Nicknamed “Socks” for his affinity for wearing knee-highs on the court, Perry played well enough that season to finish second in Most Improved Player voting behind Dana Barros. It would prove to be a career peak, but Perry lasted seven more seasons in the NBA, making stops in Milwaukee, New Jersey, and Orlando, before ending his career back in his hometown of Memphis with the Grizzlies.

11) Vern Fleming, Pacers, November 12, 1989

A solid starting point guard for the Pacers for several years, Fleming was hardly overlooked on the court, but his Player of the Week award is still a bit surprising in retrospect when you consider the context. He was the first player to be honored as such in the ’89-’90 season, arguably the peak of NBA talent, and he was immediately suceeded by legendary future Hall of Famers John Stockton, Clyde Drexler, Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, and Karl Malone. Drafted in the first round out of Georgia in 1984, Fleming took over the starting spot from Jerry Sichting early in his rookie season and held it for the rest of the decade, forming a formidable back court with Reggie Miller. He never averaged more than 15 points or eight assists per game in a season, but exploded out of the gate to start ’89-’90. Fleming had 28 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, and three steals in a season opening win over Atlanta, and in his first four games, all Pacers victories, he averaged 21.5 points, 8.8 assists, and 6.8 rebounds per game, while shooting 57.4% from the field. Beating out Miller, who wouldn’t win one until ’90-’91, Fleming became just the fourth Pacers player to be honored as Player of the Week. Though he averaged career highs in scoring and assists, ’89-’90 would turn out to be Fleming’s final full season as the starting point guard, as he began to share duties the next year with free agent acquisition Micheal Williams. Fleming spent four more seasons with Indiana, mostly off the bench, before rounding out his career with the Nets in ’95-’96.

12) Bruce Bowen, Spurs, January 9, 2005

A stalwart at small forward for the ’00s Spurs, Bowen was a starter on title teams in 2003, 2005, and 2007, but averaged just 6.4 points and 3.0 rebounds per game in his eight seasons in San Antonio. He was always more of a defensive specialist and has the resume to prove it, with five 1st-Team All-Defensive honors, three appearances on the 2nd-Team All-Defensive team, and three second place finishes in Defensive Player of the Year award voting. One surprise honor for Bowen is that he was also named Player of the Week in the Western Conference in January of the ’04-’05 season. His win was a major upset, beating out other candidates that included Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, and his teammate, Tim Duncan. Bowen likely earned it based mainly on one game, a virtuoso performance against the Lakers where he scored a career high 24 points while shutting down Kobe Bryant, limiting him to just 5-of-16 shooting from the floor in a 100-83 Spurs win. For whatever reason, January of 2005 turned out to be an interesting month for the honor, with Brad Miller, Larry Hughes, and Jason Terry also winning Player of the Week for the first and only time in their careers.

13) Scott Skiles, Magic, April 21, 1991

Though he was an All-American at Michigan State and a first round pick of the Bucks in 1986, Skiles struggled to adjust to the athleticism of the NBA and spent his first four seasons playing limited minutes off the bench. His breakout came in ’90-’91, after the Magic selected him in their expansion draft and soon after gave him the starting job at point guard. With the roster filled with cast offs and projects, someone in Orlando had to score the ball and make plays so Skiles filled the void, leading the team in points (17.2 per game) and assists (8.4 per game), which were both easily career highs at the time. He won Most Improved Player for his efforts, and was named Player of the Week for an especially impressive four-game stretch to finish the season. Skiles averaged 26.8 points and 11.8 assists per game in those four contests, with 20+ points and 10+ assists in three of them, while shooting an impressive 12-of-17 from three-point range. Surprisingly, it was not the first Player of the Week honor for the young franchise, as Dennis Scott had won it about a month earlier. Skiles remained a mainstay in the Orlando back court rotation for three more seasons and set the franchise record for total assists, which has been only topped by Jameer Nelson since.

14) Bob Hansen, Jazz, March 6, 1988

A member of the Jazz won Player of the Week in each of the last four months of the ’87-’88 season, starting with Karl Malone in January, John Stockton in February, and ending with Malone again in April. In between was a surprise entrant on the list, Hansen, who took home the award in early March. A third round pick in 1983, Hansen was unlikely to even make the Jazz roster initially but carved a small spot off the bench as a shooting guard in his rookie season and eventually was a Jazz starter for the better parts of five seasons. His strongest stretch during that time came late in ’87-’88, just as the Jazz were on their way to the best finish in franchise history, with 47 wins (they would top it in ’88-’89 with their first 50-win season). An injury to Darrell Griffith in late February opened up a tertiary scoring spot in the offense and Hansen took full advantage immediately, averaging 21.0 points per game in the first five games after Griffith went down. That included a career high 28 points in a win over Seattle, and 23 points in just 24 minutes, on 10-of-11 shooting from the floor, in a victory the next night against the Spurs. Hansen eventually did slow down in the stretch run but was a key element in the postseason, averaging 15.4 points per game as the Jazz almost upset the Lakers in the second round. He was later traded to the Kings and then again the Bulls, with whom Hansen won a title in 1992 to cap his career as an unlikely NBA Finals hero. In the 15 year stretch between 1987 and 2002, only one other Jazz player besides Hansen, Malone, or Stockton would earn Player of the Week honors: Jeff Malone, who was the centerpiece of the trade that sent Hansen to Sacramento in 1991.

15) Voshon Lenard, Nuggets, November 30, 2003

Signed to be a veteran presence to complement rookie Carmelo Anthony on the wing, Lenard, in his ninth NBA season at the time, mostly did what he done his entire career, adding solid if unspectacular scoring and perimeter defense. He was especially effective during an early season six game winning streak, averaging 22.2 points per game while shooting 53% on three pointers. In a game against the Clippers with the young Anthony slumping, Lenard went off for a game high 26 points, leading the Nuggets to a 98-86 win. Two days later he earned Player of the Week honors for the Western Conference, beating out a list of nominees that included Karl Malone, then playing in his final season with the Lakers. It was the first Player of the Week awarded to a Nuggets player in almost three years, dating back to Antonio McDyess in ’00-’01, while Anthony would earn the award two times late in his rookie campaign. Right after winning, Lenard put up a career high 38 points in a win over the Warriors. Though his scoring tailed off from there, the ’03-’04 season would turn out to be one of Lenard’s best at age 30. But the injury prone guard suffered an Achilles’ sprain in the ’04-’05 season opener and never recovered, eventually retiring in 2006 after playing just 29 games in his final two seasons.

16) Terry Tyler, Pistons, March 1, 1981

He set and still holds the Pistons franchise record for consecutive games played with 574, and one two-game stretch of it in ’80-’81 earned Tyler his biggest individual accolade. Detroit born and bred, he was a high school star at Northwestern, then starred under Dick Vitale at Detroit Mercy before getting drafted by the Pistons (and their new coach, Vitale) in the second round in 1978. The next few years were arguably the worst era in Detroit’s franchise history but Tyler was a rare bright spot, immediately starting at small forward and though never reaching a star level, playing consistently solidly. In a late February win over the Cavaliers, he exploded for 31 points and 14 rebounds which, coupled with a 26 point, nine rebound performance earlier in the week earned him Player of the Week honors, becoming the first Pistons player ever to do so. Tyler eventually hit the bench after Kelly Tripucka was drafted and in 1985 left Detroit for the Kings to try to secure more playing time, just as the Bad Boys era was getting started. He spent four more seasons with Sacramento and Dallas before retiring in 1989.

17) Rodney Stuckey, Pistons, January 4, 2009 and December 13, 2009

28 years after Terry Tyler, another Pistons role player had not just one but two offensive explosions that earned Player of the Week honors. A scoring machine during his time at Eastern Washington, Stuckey was drafted by the Pistons in 2007 to add some offensive punch off the bench for an aging roster that was still centered around Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace. Though he struggled to ever contribute consistently, due in large part to various injuries, including a broken hand suffered during preseason of his rookie year, Stuckey certainly had some impressive outbursts. Inserted into the starting lineup in his second season, ’08-’09, after an injury to Billups, Stuckey went off for 40 points in a late December win over the Bulls, in what would prove to be a career high. He later added 38 points in a victory over the Kings, and with the Pistons riding a seven-game winning streak, Stuckey was honored as Player of the Week on January 4th, 2009. He was the team’s second leading scorer in ’09-’10 behind Hamilton, as they moved on from Billups and Wallace and looked to rebuild. He got off to a hot start that season, especially an early December run of seven games where he averaged 25.7 points per game and once again was named Player of the Week for the Eastern Conference. But Detroit tumbled in the standings, missing the playoffs for the first time in eight years, and the oft-injured Stuckey never panned out into stardom. He did last seven seasons with Detroit, ultimately averaging 13.4 points per game during that time, then three years with the Pacers before retiring in 2017. It took six years for another Piston to win Player of the Week, with Andre Drummond earning the honor in back-to-back weeks to open the ’15-’16 season.