The NBA Rookie of the Year award, given to the top rookie of the regular season, has gone to the No. 1 overall pick in each of the last two seasons, but that trend is about to change.
Last summer’s first overall pick, Ben Simmons, hasn’t played a single game for the Philadelphia 76ers this season due to a foot injury that required surgery. He was ruled out for the rest of the season late last month—meaning his rookie year will take place next season so long as his broken right foot has fully healed.
With that said, here are the top-six Rookie of the Year award candidates for this season:
6. Buddy Hield, Sacramento Kings
Hield was drafted sixth overall by the New Orleans Pelicans last summer, but the Oklahoma product was traded to Sacramento late last month as part of a deal to land DeMarcus Cousins. In 57 games for the Pelicans, Hield averaged a modest 8.6 points while shooting 39.3 percent from the floor and 36.9 percent from behind the arc.
Since joining the Kings, however, Hield’s stats have improved dramatically. The 23-year-old shooting guard has averaged 14.7 points in 17 games for the Kings, and he is shooting 48.9 percent from the floor and 43 percent from behind the arc.
Last Friday, Hield perhaps offered a glimpse into his bright future with the Kings by scoring a career-high 22 points in a loss to the Golden State Warriors. He also added eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
With how well Hield has played in Sacramento, it makes you wonder if he’d be among the top three candidates for the Rookie of the Year award if he had been with the Kings all season.
5. Marquese Chriss, Phoenix Suns
One of the youngest players taken in the draft last summer at just 19 years of age, Chriss was selected eighth overall by the Kings, who later traded the Washington product to Phoenix in exchange for a package of young assets. The Suns gave up two first-round picks in last year’s draft, a future second-round pick and former first-round pick Bogdan Bogdanovic to get Chriss from Sacramento. So far, it’s looking like their investment is paying off.
Chriss has been a force on both ends of the floor this season, especially in the month of March with averages of 12.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks. He also ranks second among rookies in total blocks this season with 60.
It may have costed them an arm and a leg to acquire Chriss, but the Suns got one of this year’s top rookies and a future star in the making.
4. Willy Hernangomez, New York Knicks
Hernangomez came into the league with some previous professional experience having played a couple of seasons overseas for Real Madrid in the Spanish ACB League, and it seems to have helped him in his first season with the Knicks.
The 22-year-old center has played well down the stretch, averaging 11.2 points and 9.4 rebounds since the All-Star break, both of which trump Joakim Noah’s season averages of 5.0 points and 8.8 rebounds. Although Noah has been the Knicks’ starting center for most of this season, some might argue that Hernangomez is the better option going forward. In fact, team president Phil Jackson reportedly views Hernangomez and Kristaps Porzingis as the “starting frontcourt tandem of the future.”
Hernangomez demonstrated what that might look like by scoring a career-high 24 points to go along with 13 rebounds in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday. Porzingis added 12 points and five rebounds. It will be interesting to see if the Knicks stick with Hernangomez in the starting lineup for the foreseeable future. He appears to have done enough as a rookie to wrestle the starting job away from Noah.
3. Malcolm Brogdon, Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks selected talented high-schooler Thon Maker with one of their two draft picks in 2016 and Brogdon with the other. The Virginia product was taken early in the second round, but probably should have been a first-round pick based on his performance this season.
Brogdon has averaged 10.2 points and 4.2 assists in 72 games for the Bucks, and he ranks first among rookies in total steals this season with 82. It’s worth mentioning that if this year’s Rookie of the Year award race didn’t include players from previous drafts, Brogdon might actually be the frontrunner.
If you look at the impact he has had on the Bucks this season, there’s no question Brogdon’s a top-three Rookie of the Year award candidate. His own success has helped Milwaukee get in a position to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2014-15 season.
2. Dario Saric, Philadelphia 76ers
Saric’s rookie season has been a long time coming. After he was drafted 12th overall in 2014, he returned to Europe to play two more seasons before coming over last summer. The 22-year-old forward has proven to be well worth the wait. In 74 games for the Sixers, Saric has averaged 12.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists.
With Philadelphia shutting down Joel Embiid for the rest of the season earlier this month, Saric’s play has skyrocketed. He’s averaging 19.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists while playing 31.3 minutes per game. Last Friday, Saric shined in a victory over the Bulls with a career-high 32 points and 10 rebounds.
If Rookie of the Year award voters don’t believe Embiid has played enough games to warrant winning the award, then it will likely be Saric taking home the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy. Either way, the Sixers have to be happy with how well two of their young players performed this season.
1. Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
The only thing keeping Embiid from running away with the Rookie of the Year award is the amount of games he has played in this season, or lack thereof. After missing his first two seasons with foot injuries, the former third overall pick was routinely held out of games by the Sixers as a precaution, which was understandable on their part.
Before he was shut down for the rest of the season with a knee injury earlier this month, Embiid managed to play in 31 games, and his numbers this season blow away all the other candidates. The 23-year-old averaged 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks over 25.4 minutes per game.
As ESPN’s Marc Stein explained in a recent tweet, it’s hard not to vote for Embiid after what he’s done in a small sample size:
I still struggle to picture voting for anyone else for Rookie of the Year over Joel Embiid. His mere 31 games still outshine all other rooks
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) March 1, 2017
Ultimately, it’s up to the voters to decide who should be the Rookie of the Year, but Embiid’s first season is too good to ignore.
About Marcelo Villa
Marcelo is an associate editor at The Sports Daily, and has covered the San Diego Chargers for Bleacher Report. He also writes for Sportsdirect Inc.
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