NBA: Predicting regular season awards after finalists revealed
By Ethan Becker
Rookie of the Year: Trae Young, Deandre Ayton, Luka Doncic
On a side note, I’m really excited about the future of this league. With phenomenal young stars like Towns, Giannis, Simmons, and Embiid, as well as to-be rookies who are projected to be stars like Zion, R.J. Barrett, and Ja Morant, there’s a lot of talent in the league.
In any year, any one of these three could have won this award. The fact that they were all just going against each other was probably bad luck for them, but it was great for us. Sadly, there can only be one winner.
And for me, it’s Luka Doncic.
it’s safe to say that Doncic surpassed expectations this year, and it’s easy to see why. With so few people really knowing much about him, Doncic fell from a projected first overall pick to the third overall, and then was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, who had the 5th overall pick.
Young put up some good competition after the All-Star Break this year, but Doncic was a star from the start of the season. For me, just the clutch factor of this matchup is what determines it for me. Doncic has already proved that he is calm, cool, and collected under pressure, and he was just about everyone’s ROY from day one.