NBA.com Rookie Survey Predicts Phoenix Suns’ Deandre Ayton & Cleveland’s Collin Sexton as Co-Rookies of the Year
Atlanta Hawks Guard Trae Young Selected as Best Shooter & Playmaker from 2018-19 Rookie Class
NBA.com’s survey of NBA rookies predicts that Phoenix Suns’ forward Deandre Ayton and Cleveland Cavaliers’ guard Collin Sexton (tied with 18% of the vote) will split Kia NBA Rookie of the Year honors this season. Fifteen different players received at least one vote, with the Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic and New York Knicks’ Kevin Knox placing after Ayton and Sexton, tying with 9% of the vote. This is the first time in the now 10-year history of the survey that no player received at least 24% of the vote for this category.
The NBA.com Rookie Survey, compiled earlier this month at Panini’s NBA Rookie Shoot in Tarrytown, N.Y., by reporter John Schuhmann, asked 36 of this year’s rookies for their favorites in a variety of categories including best playmaker and best shooter.
Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks was the runaway leader in both categories, with 47% of rookies selecting him as best shooter and 35% naming him best playmaker.
The Chicago Bulls’ Wendell Carter, Jr. was voted the rookie to have the best career (13%), pacing just ahead of Knox and the LA Clippers’ Jerome Robinson (10% each). Carter is the fifth consecutive Duke player to win this category.
The first-year players were also asked to name their favorite current NBA stars, with the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James (29%) ranking atop the list for the second consecutive year, followed by Golden State Warriors teammates Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, who each garnered 9% of the vote.
Minnesota Timberwolves’ big man Keita Bates-Diop (13%) was named the biggest steal of this year’s NBA Draft, with 22 players receiving at least one vote, ranging from Doncic – taken 3rd overall – to Diop (pick No. 48).
Complete survey results are available at NBA.com. Players were not allowed to vote for themselves or their college and NBA teammates.
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