NBA Team of the Week (Jan. 22 - Jan. 28)

What an eventful week for the NBA!

LeBron James became the youngest player to ever reach the 30k milestone and if things go as expected for him, it won't be surprising if he crosses the Kareem Abdul Jabbar's most regular-season points record.

Extremely sad week for the NBA, injuries wise. DeMarcus Cousins suffered a season-ending fatal Achilles injury. Andre Roberson is also expected to miss the full season because of a tendon injury. Let's hope we don't get more injuries as the season goes by.

On the other hand, the All-Star teams were selected and the hype this year around the All-Star game is much more than the past few years. Hopefully, we will see a competitive All-Star game this year.

The games were exciting as well, with Embiid and Westbrook going against each other, Warriors-Celtics showing what their finals matchup would be like, LeBron achieving an undesirable quadruple-double with a 10+ turnover and so much more.

Amidst all this drama, there were few players who stood out. With that being said, let's count down our team of the week!

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Sixth man- Lou Williams

Lou Williams

Team Record: 2-2

Player Stats for the Week: 25.5 ppg, 7.5 apg on 47% shooting, +2.8 bpm, +3.4 net rating, 15.3 player impact estimate

It is getting a tad monotonous giving Lou this award but what can we do? He is extremely consistent with his role and has been consistently scoring 20+ from the bench. Although Clippers went 2-2 last week, Lou was consistent and had a 40 point game vs the Memphis. Hence the amazing Lou is our sixth man in the team of the week.

Other contenders for this position this week:

Ed Davis (2-1, 11.7 ppg, 11 apg on 75% shooting)

Eric Gordon (3-1, 18.3 ppg, on 50% shooting, 35% from threes)

Point Guard- Russell Westbrook

Russell Westbrook

Team Record: 4-0

Player Stats in the Week: 36.5 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 9.8 apg on 52% shooting, +8.0 bpm, +9.5 net rating, 23.2 player impact estimate, 1 Death Stare to Embiid

Westbrook is playing like his last year MVP season since December. If Thunder is able to grab the third spot in the West, and Westbrook's numbers are similar to what they are right now, he will be one of the front-runners in the MVP conversation. With Lebron cooling down and Harden getting injured in between, this MVP conversation is completely open right now.

This week Oklahoma again have 4 matches, against Wizards, Pelicans, Lakers and Nuggets. Thunder is only 2 games behind the third-placed Spurs and might be able to close the gap this week if Westbrook keeps playing like this.

Other Contenders for this position this week:

Damian Lillard (2-1, 28.3 ppg, 5.7 apg on 53% shooting, 48% from threes)

Jamal Murray (2-0, 28 ppg, 5.5 apg on 63% shooting, 55% from threes)

Shooting Guard- Stephen Curry

Stephen Curry

Team Record: 3-0

Player Stats in the Week: 35.3 ppg, 7 apg on 60% shooting, 57% from threes, +10 bpm, +14.7 net rating, 21.2 player impact estimate

Yes, we are playing Chef Curry in the shooting guard position. Westbrook and Curry had so strong a week, that it was impossible to bump any of them. With Curry's shooting, it will be extremely easy for him to play off the ball and play as a shooting guard.

If Curry can keep this up for the whole year, he will be a strong contender for the MVP conversation despite Durant being on his team. Curry is arguably the most valuable player on the stacked GSW team, as everything runs by him.

GSW's next week is a bit on the easier side against Jazz, Kings and Nuggets.

Other Contenders for this position this week:

James Harden (3-1, 25.8 ppg, 9.3 apg on 40% shooting, 35% from threes)

Victor Oladipo (2-1, 23.3 ppg, 7.3 apg on 50% shooting, 32% from threes)

Small Forward- LeBron James

Lebron James became the youngest to cross 30k points

Team Record: 2-1

Player Stats in the Week: 26.3 ppg, 9 rpg, 10.7 apg on 53% shooting, +6.7 bpm, +9.2 net rating, 17.5 player impact estimate

The King is back in our team of the week!

What a week for LeBron, he became the youngest player to get to 30k regular season points. Cleveland got out of the slump and got two back to back wins. This week will be interesting to watch, as they have Detroit on the road, the rolling Heat and Houston at home. These matches will show how much out of the slump are they, as they aren't able to win on the road and also are unable to win against quality teams yet.

Lebron has cooled down a bit from the start of the season, but that was bound to happen as Cleveland has a habit of losing concentration in the regular season. Nonetheless, he is in the top three in the MVP conversation right now and would want to finish strong before the all-star break.

Other contenders for this position this week:

Paul George (4-0, 25.8 ppg, 2.8 spg on 44% shooting, 34% from threes)

Khris Middleton (3-0, 25.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg on 64% shooting, 56% from threes)

Power Forward- Giannis Antetokounmpo

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Team Record: 2-0

Player Stats for the Week: 34 ppg, 11 rpg, 7.5 apg on 64% shooting, 3/3 from threes, +13.5 bpm, +23.0 net rating, 28.2 player impact estimate

Despite playing only two games, the Greek Freak makes our team of the week. He was completely unstoppable in the last 2 games after coming back from the knee injury. It was good to see that the firing of Bucks' head coach, Jason Kidd, didn't affect him in any way.

Antetokounmpo is putting up MVP like numbers, but his team record isn't helping his MVP case. Let's hope that a major change in the coaching personnel won't derail them and Antetokounmpo will keep up his strong season.

Next week Bucks have 4 matches, two of which are against the 76ers and the Timberwolves, that will be a lot of fun.

Other Contenders for this position this week-

Kevin Durant (3-0, 20.7 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 9 apg on 45% shooting, 47% from threes)

Anthony Davis (3-1, 26.3 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 5 apg on 50% shooting)

Center- DeMarcus Cousins

Demarcus Cousins

Team Record: 3-0

Player Stats for the Week: 25 ppg, 16.3 rpg, 8.7 apg on 47% shooting, 39% from threes, +9.0 bpm, +11.7 net rating, 22.9 player impact estimate

What a roller coaster week for DeMarcus Cousins. First, he put up an unbelievable statline against Chicago in a double overtime game with 44 points, 23 rebounds, 10 assists, 4 steals on 45% shooting, 46% from threes. This type of statline was last put up by Kareem Abdul Jabbar in 1972. Then he suffered a season ending injury in the win against the Rockets.

Boogie is the best player in the league right now who hasn't reached the playoffs even once. This time, when it finally seemed like he was eventually reaching the destination, the injury happened.

People often take a long time returning to their star power after an Achilles injury. Let's hope this injury doesn't derail Boogie and he is back stronger than ever.

Other Contender for this position this week:

Jonas Valanciunas (2-1, 19 ppg, 12.3 rpg on 64% shooting, 75% from threes)