WNBA Players of the Month for May 2017: Tiffany Hayes and Sylvia Fowles
Tiffany Hayes of the Atlanta Dream and Sylvia Fowles of the Minnesota Lynx are the WNBA’s Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month for games played in May. Hayes won her first Player of the Month award. Fowles is a six-time winner, the third-highest in league history behind Tina Charles (eight) and Lynx teammate Maya Moore (seven).
Hayes, a sixth-year pro, shares the scoring lead among East players with the Washington Mystics’ Elena Delle Donne (19.8 ppg each). The 5-10 guard finished with at least 16 points in each of Atlanta’s five games. She also averaged 5.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
Fowles began the season by winning consecutive Western Conference Player of the Week honors. The 6-6 center and 10th-year pro helped lead the Lynx to a league-best 6-0 record. She paced all West players in rebounding (10.7 rpg) and field goal percentage (.611, 44-of-72). She also ranked fourth in scoring (20.0 ppg) and second in blocks (2.3 bpg) and steals (2.0 spg).
Other candidates for the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were Atlanta’s Layshia Clarendon, Los Angeles’ Nneka Ogwumike, the New York Liberty’s Epiphanny Prince, the Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner, the Seattle Storm’s Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart, and Washington’s Elena Delle Donne.
