We may be looking back at the 2021 NBA Draft as one of the strongest in history. From top to bottom, rookies are playing a pivotal role on almost every team in the league. This means giving out the Rookie Of The Year Award to the right candidate is more important than ever before.
Giving it to the wrong candidate could mean this year’s race being brought up over and over again. Fans will scream “how could they give it player X when they could’ve had player Y?” for years. Winning this award puts a player in elite company, many of the games’ greatest have won it in their first season.
Unless they happen to be drafted in a class as deep as 2021’s with multiple potential Hall-of-Famers.
If you’ve been paying attention to the Kia Rookie Ladder, you probably already know that the same five players have been jockeying around the standings for almost the entire season. That’s ultimately how we’ll remember this ROTY race; five guys who all deserve to win it, and only one that will.
5. Josh Giddey
Giddey was one of the biggest surprises of both the 2021 NBA Draft and the NBA season. Not many had him going in the top-10, and once the pick was in it’s safe to say many assumed he would bust.
Call it empty calories or good stats on a bad team, Josh Giddey had a real opportunity on the Oklahoma City Thunder. He’s taken full advantage of his long leash, making him the perfect NBA rookie to round out the top five.
Bonus points for the first 0/10/10 game in 50 years, and for becoming the youngest player to get a triple-double in NBA history. Not bad for an Aussie TikTok star that can’t shoot.
4. Cade Cunningham
It is OK to say Cade Cunningham is both a future All-Star/superstar caliber player, and that he is not in the top-3 of Rookie Of The Year voting.
To clarify, his ranking is more a testament to the quality of rookies this year than an edict on his play. Cade missed the first 5 games of his rookie season, recorded 2 points in his debut, and then shot below 40% in his first 15 games. Rookie Of The Year candidates need to burst onto the scene, not slowly put it all together!
From an organizational standpoint, Rookie Of The Year was probably never going to happen for Cade. He is too important for the Detroit Pistons’ future. A franchise can’t play balls-to-the-wall when their 95th percentile outcome for the season is the Play-In tournament.
Unless Cade sets the NBA on fire in the second-half, he will be looking at the top-3 from the outside.
3. Scottie Barnes
The Raptors taking Scottie Barnes 4th overall may go down as one of the best draft day decisions of all-time. Leave it to Masai Ujiri!
Most had Scottie as the 6th or 7th best player in the 2021 class. Quickly, he was given the moniker of “project player” and told that he could have an impact if he developed into a better shooter. Barnes proved that narrative wrong day one of the season.
If the rookie class of 2021 taught us anything, it’s that you can play professional basketball as long as you have length. Barnes’ 7’2″ wingspan on a 227 pound, 6’9″ frame is the biggest reason he has had such an instant impact.
Not a single player on this list is under 6’6″ (Cade Cunningham), and four of these five rookies have 7’plus wingspans (Josh Giddey being the one exception).
Rookie Of The Year Runner Up: Franz Wagner
If more fans watched the Magic, could Franz Wagner be even higher on this list? No, probably not. But him being this high is absolutely fair.
2021’s 8th overall pick was thought to be doomed for irrelevance heading to Orlando. Now, he’s a big reason they are on the NBA map!
Currently, Wagner averages 32.4 minutes per game and is showing he can be a core rebuilding piece on a team with 12 players born after 1997. While he doesn’t have as much long-term upside as some of his 2021 classmates, the Rookie Of The Year award goes to the best rookie. Whatever Wagner ends up becoming down the line does not count here.
Rookie Of The Year Prediction: Evan Mobley
Much skepticism was made of Evan Mobley falling to the Cavaliers at 3rd overall. How would he fit with Jarrett Allen and Lauri Markkanen? Should he have gone to a team with more opportunity for him?
Nope! Instead, Evan Mobley’s skillset translated perfectly to the power forward position, and his passing ingenuity and defensive prowess has become a big reason why the Cavs own the 5th seed in the East. Additonally, he’s the key to the Cavs’ jumbo lineup of three 7-footers sharing the court, bending personnel concepts with its success.
No other rookie comes close to Evan Mobley this year, who was receiving a loose amount of All-Star buzz early in the season. He will remain the Rookie Of The Year favorite until proven otherwise.
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