:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/14563035/20120705_kkt_aj4_349.0.jpg)
The Week One Players of the Week were no surprise. They were Angel McCoughtry, the reigning scoring champ and Candace Parker, a former MVP who entered the season as the frontrunner to win that award again.
But Week Two took a bit of an unexpected twist. Washington Mystics point guard Ivory Latta has been named Player of the Week for the East and Minnesota Lynx forward Rebekkah Brunson won the award for the West. Check out WNBA.com's write up on both of their accomplishments last week.
Brunson is a one-time All-Star in her tenth season and while she's not necessarily a superstar, she is still a key member of the core of the well respected Lynx. Without a doubt, she was her team's best player this past Saturday, when she posted an impressive 21-point, 17-rebound double-double in a losing effort against the Mystics. Performances like that from Brunson are part of the reason Minnesota is so feared. With three members of the 2012 Olympic gold medal team plus her they are pretty scary. Saturday also marked a rare team accomplishment for the Lynx:
#Lynx had 3 players w/ 20+ pts vs. WAS (Moore 22,Augustus 21,Brunson 21), the 3rd time in club history they've had 3 20+ scorers in a game.
— Lynx PR (@Lynx_PR) June 10, 2013
Meanwhile, Latta could not be more deserving of the Eastern Conference honor after she has basically willed the Mystics to a 3-1 record, including two wins last week. All three wins have been close and Latta has come up clutch at key moments in all of them.
Ivory is not messing around right now. She is second to only Maya Moore in points per game with 20.5 and is seventh in assists per game with 4.5. She may not be thought of as a top 5 or top 10 player in the league, but you could make the case that she has been more valuable to the Mystics through the first four games of this season than any other player has been to their team. Without her, Washington is likely 0-4. She has changed the early season conversation about the Mystics from being: "that team that is terrible and missed out on Griner" to "hey, this team is pretty exciting to watch."
Latta was 12th in WNBA.com's "Race to the MVP" last week. We'll see if she moves up into the top-10 after two more stellar performances.