Dyshawn Pierre and Natalie Achonwa have been selected as the Toyota Players of the Week for the week of September 6-12. 

Pierre was named MVP of the Istanbul Cup pre-season tournament this past weekend. The 6’6” forward from Whitby, ON attended Dayton University (NCAA) where he became the school’s all-time leading scorer (3,566 points) and rebounder (1,793). Pierre now plays in Turkey where he recently signed a 3 year contract extension with the Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (BSL & Euroleague). Having represented team Canada in over 16 games over 4 years, most notably Pierre earned bronze at the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship and led Canada in scoring at the U19 World Championship.

In the Minnesota Lynx’s (WNBA) win over Indiana on Friday, Achonwa scored 10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block in 21 minutes. The 6’3” forward from Guelph, ON, Achonwa attended the University of Notre Dame (NCAA) where she became the first Canadian player to don a jersey for the Fighting Irish Women’s team. The 6’3” forward was a 2014 first-round draft pick for the Indiana Fever (WNBA) and made her debut in Europe playing for Napoli (Italy). Achonwa has also spent time playing in the WCBA (China) and WKBL (Korea) before finding her current home with the Minnesota Lynx (WNBA) and Beretta Famila Schio (Italy) in the off-season. Achonwa has spent over 10 years and 101 games representing Canada, most recently at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics this past summer. 

Canada Basketball's Toyota Players of the Week are proudly sponsored by Toyota Canada.