Player of the Week: Michael Carter-Williams

The rookie flirted with a quadruple-double in his first NBA game.

A lot of players had phenomenal debuts in the first two days of the 2013-14 NBA season. There isn’t a whole lot to be expected in the first two games, but after seeing what Michael Carter-Williams did in first regular season NBA game expectations are going to be hard to pull down.

Carter-Williams led the Philadelphia 76ers to a 114-110 win over the defending champion Miami Heat, but what good is a win against the Heat if you can’t brag a little?

The 22-year-old rookie out of Syracuse put together 22 points and 12 assists and even hit the go-ahead free throws in the fourth quarter. That wasn’t enough for Carter-Williams. He also hauled in seven rebounds and collected nine steals. He had fans thinking they were watching an NBA 2k14 exhibition. His nine steals set an NBA rookie record for a debut.

In the history of the NBA, no player has equaled those statistics in a game — not talking about rookies but any player in any contest. His 22 points were also second in 76ers history, behind Allen Iverson’s 30 points in 1996, for a rookie’s first game.

And to put him in some good company, Carter-Williams became the fifth player to have a debut game with a double-double in points and assists. He joined Damian Lillard, Spud Webb, Jason Kidd and Damon Stoudamire.

He was also somewhat modest for a 22-year-old kid who almost had a quadruple-double in his first NBA game.

“It’s just an unbelievable moment,” he said. “I’m just glad we came up with the win.”

John Wall will have to step up his game Friday if he wants to halt the Carter-Williams bandwagon.  The 76ers visit the Washington Wizards tomorrow night.

Honorable Mentions: 
Klay Thompson – 38 points, 15-19 FGM-A, 3 rebounds
Kevin Love – 31 points, 17 rebounds and the game-tying three in the fourth quarter to send it to overtime against Orlando.
Nikola Vucevic – 22 points, 16 rebounds and 4 assists