Matt Barnes: Your Aleve-Publix Hustle Player of the Year

At halftime of tonight's Orlando Magic game against the Philadelphia 76ers, Aleve and Publix named Magic forward Matt Barnes the Hustle Player of the Year. In a lot of ways, he was a lock for that award the same way his teammate Dwight Howard is for Defensive Player of the Year. As a result of his win, Aleve and Publix donated $5,000 to the Matt Barnes Foundation. Congratulations are in order.

You can read the full press release after the jump.

Matt Barnes was named the Aleve-Publix ‘Hustle Player of the Year’ at halftime of the Orlando Magic’s regular season finale Wednesday evening against the Philadelphia 76ers. At the conclusion of every Magic home game this year, Aleve and Publix presented the Hustle Board, which provided stats derived from heart, hustle and passion shown during that particular game. Due to his constant commitment to playing every game with more excitement than the last, Barnes was selected as the recipient of the 2009-10 Aleve-Publix ‘Hustle Player of the Year’ honor.

Barnes accepted the award from Larry Bond with Bayer Healthcare, who represented Aleve, and Dwaine Stevens with Publix Super Markets. In honor of Barnes’ accomplishments, Aleve is donating $5,000 to the Matt Barnes Foundation. The Matt Barnes Foundation was created to raise funds for research to help defeat cancer and ensure that families may one day live in a world that is cancer free.