NBA News 2015: Durant, Westbrook, Wall Named Players Of The Month, Veteran Referee Joey Crawford To Retire After Current Season

By Miguel Vasquez, Christian Post Contributor Wednesday, January 06, 2016

Three NBA standouts were recently named Kia Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month.

In a report by NBA.com, the Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, and the Washington Wizards' John Wall were the three players who received the recognition, based on their respective performances for the month of December of the past year.

For the said month alone, Oklahoma went on an impressive streak, putting up a 12-3 win-loss record. For his part, Durant averaged 24.9 points per game, 7.2 rebounds and 5.7 assists, on 50.8 percent field goal shooting. He also reached the 20-point mark during all of the said 15 games.

Westbrook, on the other hand, was averaging 23.8 points per game, 5.9 rebounds, 8.9 assists, and 2.73 steals (a league-leading statistic). He also had three 30-point games, and was able to put up at least 10 assists seven times, marking his third triple-double for the 2015-2016 regular season.

Wall, meanwhile, was averaging 22.6 points per game, 11.7 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.3 steals. The report adds that he is the first player to have an average of at least 22 points, 11 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals in a month since Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul six years ago.

Meanwhile, veteran NBA official Joey Crawford will be joining Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant in retirement after the current season. In a report by ESPN.com, the 64-year-old Crawford had been on the sidelines throughout the season after undergoing knee surgery but plans to make his return in March.

For his part, the 39-year veteran says if he had the choice, he would want to end his career with a bang.

"It's been so good that I want to go out on a high note," Crawford said in a separate interview with the Delaware County Daily Times. "I don't want to go out on a low note. I want to be in the NBA Finals, and I don't want to be reffing just for the sake of reffing."