Trae Young and Karl-Anthony Towns named NBA Players of the Week

Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young and Minnesota Timberwolves Center Karl-Anthony Towns have been named as the NBA's first Players of the Week of the new season.

Towns follows in the footsteps of Timberwolves legends Kevin Love (2013-14) and Kevin Garnett (2004-05) in winning the award during the first week of the season while Young became the first player in NBA history to compile at least 38 points, nine assists and seven rebounds in each of his team's first two games of the season.

This is Young's second time winning the award, having previously won the award in March last year during his rookie campaign. For Towns, the first pick in the 2015 NBA draft and now a two-time All-Star, it's his fourth time winning the award.

After the first week of play, Towns was third in the NBA in scoring (32.0 ppg), sixth in rebounds (13.3 rpg), second in steals (3.0 spg) and second in three-pointers made (5.0 per game) after leading Minnesota to a perfect 3-0 start to the season, tied for the second-best start in team history.

Both players were on fire from beyond the arc. Towns became the fifth player in NBA history to connect in at least four three-pointers in each of his first three games of a season for the Timberwolves, while Young shot 55 per cent on threes across Week 1.

Young's 77 total points through the first two games set a new Hawks franchise record, breaking the old mark of 75 set by Dominique Wilkins in the 1986-87 season and he is the first NBA player to open a season with at least 38 points in the first two games since Anthony Davis in 2016-17.