Xu Jie (R) of the Guangdong Southern Tigers breaks through during the 34th round match against the Shanxi Loongs at the 2022-2023 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league in Taiyuan, capital city of north China's Shanxi province, March 13, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

Guangdong Southern Tigers point guard Xu Jie and Shanghai Sharks power forward Kenneth Lofton were named the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league's Players of the Month on Friday.

Despite injuries and an incomplete roster for the Guangdong team, Xu helped his side split the 14 matches in December 2024 with an average of 19.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 7.9 assists and 1.9 steals in 39 minutes per game. He made 3.2 shots from 3-point range on average during the spell.

Lofton won the honor for the overseas player category, with impressive stats of 23.7 points, 12.8 rebounds, 7.1 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.3 blocks in 31 minutes per game. He achieved eight double-doubles and two triple-doubles in the 12 matches down the stretch.

Fueled by Lofton's all-around performance, Shanghai, once sitting bottom of the 20-team CBA standings after losing 10 of its opening 11 matches, has been riding on an 11-game winning streak by the 24th round, and its 11-1 record in December was the best in the league.

Also on Friday, Zhejiang Lions guard Sun Minghui was named the CBA Defensive Player of the Month.

In the second edition of the monthly award for games between the 11th and 24th round, Sun averaged a league-best 2.6 steals with a steal percentage of 4.7%, which ranks fourth in the league.

Notching 10 victories from the 11 games that Sun has played over the past month, Zhejiang currently leads the standings with a 21-4 record.

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