Welcome to the first awards show of the 2024-25 Fantasy Basketball season. I hope you’re wearing a suit and tie or at least your best pantsuit. For the purposes of these awards, we will consider the last week of October to be part of November, as you do.
Fantasy Basketball Awards November 2024
Most Valuable Player – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder)
Stats: 19 GP, 34.5 MIN, 20.7 FGA, 0.503 FG%, 2.1 3PTM, 8.1 FTA, 0.857 FT%, 29.8 PTS, 5.3 REB, 6.6 AST, 1.7 STL, 1.1 BLK, 2.8 TO
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander picked up right where he left off as the second-best fantasy player behind Nikola Jokić. With Jokić missing a few games due to personal reasons, Gilgeous-Alexander gets the nod as the MVP of November. Shai is making a career-high 2.1 threes per game now, too, so his stat line is balanced across the board without any weaknesses for fantasy.
Rookie of the Month – Dalton Knecht (Los Angeles Lakers)
Stats: 19 GP, 23.7 MIN, 8.9 FGA, 0.497 FG%, 2.5 3PTM, 0.9 FTA, 0.889 FT%, 12.2 PTS, 3.3 REB, 1.2 AST, 0.5 STL, 0 BLK, 0.4 TO
Who would have thunk that the 17th pick of the draft would take down the first Rookie of the Month award? LeBron knew, of course, but us mere mortals? The big name picks (Zach Edey and Reed Sheppard) haven’t had much of an impact and the French guys (Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr) look well on their way to role-player city. So there you go. Lakers!
Sophomore of the Month – Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs)
Stats: 16 GP, 32.1 MIN, 18.3 FGA, 0.474 FG%, 3.1 3PTM, 3.3 FTA, 0.868 FT%, 23.4 PTS, 10 REB, 3.1 AST, 1.3 STL, 3.6 BLK, 3.5 TO
An easy win for Wembanyama who is closer to the overall MVP award than to the second-best sophomore. Much closer. Wemby is the first player in the league history to average over 3 threes and 3 blocks per game if this keeps up. The closest someone’s come is Wemby last season when he averaged 3.5 blocks and 1.8 threes. If his shooting can keep up, he will definitely be in contention for the best fantasy player at some point this season.
Most Improved Player – Christian Braun (Denver Nuggets)
Stats (2023-24): 82 GP, 20.2 MIN, 5.9 FGA, 0.46 FG%, 0.8 3PTM, 1.6 FTA, 0.694 FT%, 7.3 PTS, 3.7 REB, 1.6 AST, 0.5 STL, 0.4 BLK, 0.7 TO
Stats (November): 17 GP, 34.8 MIN, 10.2 FGA, 0.58 FG%, 1.4 3PTM, 3.6 FTA, 0.806 FT%, 16.2 PTS, 4.9 REB, 1.9 AST, 1.2 STL, 0.7 BLK, 1.3 TO
Braun got his promotion to the Nuggets starting lineup and is performing up to the standard needed. All the counting stats are up from last season as well as the shooting percentages. Well done, Christian!
Most Declined Player – Eric Gordon (Philadelphia 76ers)
Stats (2023-24): 68 GP, 27.8 MIN, 9.1 FGA, 0.443 FG%, 2.2 3PTM, 0.9 FTA, 0.797 FT%, 11 PTS, 1.8 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 0.4 BLK, 1.1 TO
Stats (November): 16 GP, 16.5 MIN, 4.8 FGA, 0.325 FG%, 0.6 3PTM, 1.4 FTA, 0.773 FT%, 4.8 PTS, 0.9 REB, 1.3 AST, 0.6 STL, 0.3 BLK, 0.8 TO
Gordon had some runs of form last season playing for the injury-ridden Suns but has been a complete non-factor this season for the injury-ridden 76ers. Maybe this is an unfair award as Eric is doing the best he can but there you go.
Best Single-Category Player – Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks) – FG%
Stats: 17 GP, 35.1 MIN, 21.6 FGA, 0.61 FG%, 32.9 PTS
Giannis Antetokounmpo led the league in scoring in November and, more importantly, did it in the most efficient way scoring over 60% from the field. Whether the trade rumors are true, we cannot say, but what we can say is that Giannis will take home the first Best Single-Category Player award of the 2024-25 NBA season.
Performance of the Month – Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks) – 2024-11-13 vs. DET
Stats: 44 MIN, 34 FGA, 0.618 FG%, 1 3PTM, 17 FTA, 0.941 FT%, 59 PTS, 14 REB, 7 AST, 2 STL, 3 BLK, 3 TO
A second award for the big fella from Greece! Clearly the reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated. What a stat line! He even made a three!