Getty Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic
The NBA’s Rookie of the Year Award Honors will be announce tonght at the NBA Awards Show in Santa Monica, CA.
Million Dollar Question: Who is the NBA’s Rookie of the Year?
Popular opinion these days suggest that Dallas Mavericks phenom Luka Doncic could receive the award.
The 6-7 Doncic put up a solid 21.2-point, 7.8-rebound, 6.0 assist per-game campaign in Dallas.
“I’m confident,” Luka Doncic told Shams Charania.
“But even if I think I am, I’m never going to say it… I’m going to keep it to myself. It’s just different characters.”
Some might side with Atlanta Hawks’ point guard, Trae Young who posted a 19.1-point, 8.1-assist, 3.7-rebound rookie campaign in the A.
Luka Doncic came out hot from the gate in Dallas and Trae Young started out slow.
“I think that it has something to do what the position of the NBA right now,” Fox Sports’ Rashad Phillips told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
“The point guard position and quarterback positions are the hardest positions to adjust to. When you go from college to the pros it takes a while to use to the speed of the game. Know the Temperaments of all 14 of your teammates, where they like the ball, you have to know the coaches temperaments, there’s a lot of things to being a point guard is like joggling 8 different things. You’ve got to be a great multitasker. So it takes you a little more time playing off the ball like a Luca Doncic. Guys that don’t have that responsibilities well they can just constantly allow everyone else to figure that out while. Trae struggled early, well I won’t say struggled adjusted later caused he had to figure all those things out. Once he figured them all out he became one of the best point guards in the NBA.”
If you’re tardy to the party: If Doncic were to win Rookie of the Year honors, he’d be the first Dallas Mavericks rookie to win the award since Jason Kidd won it in 1995.
Worth noting: Kidd shared the co-Rookie of the Year Award honor with Grant Hill.
In his rookie campaign, Hill averaged 19.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5 assists for the Detroit Pistons.
Kidd averaged 11.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 7.7 assists for the Dallas Mavericks.
With those stats, it begs the question: Could a co-Rookie of the Year Award happen again with Young and Doncic?
GettyAtlanta Hawks guard Trae Young
“There’s been a lot of talk about there being Co-Rookie of the Year this year,” T.J. Kidd told me this afternoon.
Kidd is the son of NBA Hall of Famer and current Lakers assistant coach, Jason Kidd.
“One of the last times that happened was with my dad and Grant Hill during the 1994-95 season. I think that of course it would be cool to see it happen again. I think Luka and Trae are both phenomenal basketball players and will continue to be great as their careers progress. I think they both deserve the award. They both had phenomenal seasons for Dallas and Atlanta. They were a lot of fun to watch this past season. I’m excited to see how the voting goes.”
As T.J. Kidd noted, Grant Hill and Jason Kidd were one of the lasts to get the award.
For those keeping score at home: The distinction of receiving the NBA’s co-Rookie of the Year Award has happened three times in NBA history. Kidd and Hill got it ’95, it has happened before them and after them.
Dave Cowens and Geoff Petrie shared it for the 1970-71 season. Steve Francis and Elton Brand shared it during the 1999-00 season.
Could Trae Young and Luka Doncic replicate that?
We’ll find out tonight.