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R.J. Barrett calls NBA Rookie of the Year Award ‘definitely important’ to win

By Kevin Connelly

MADISON, NEW JERSEY - AUGUST 11: RJ Barrett of the New York Knicks poses for a portrait during the 2019 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot on August 11, 2019 at the Ferguson Recreation Center in Madison, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
MADISON, NEW JERSEY - AUGUST 11: RJ Barrett of the New York Knicks poses for a portrait during the 2019 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot on August 11, 2019 at the Ferguson Recreation Center in Madison, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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The former Duke Basketball freshman star, R.J. Barrett, badly wants to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award with the New York Knicks.

The NBA regular season is growing closer and as former Duke Basketball star R.J. Barrett has his eyes set on winning the NBA Rookie of the Year Award.

In an interview with the New York Daily News, Barrett said that winning the award is “definitely important”.

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The interview was based on the recent NBA Rookie Survey where Barrett’s peers selected Zion Williamson as the favorite to win Rookie of the Year with Ja Morant as the runner-up.

R.J. Barrett was tied for third with Cam Reddish in the voting.

Williamson received 35% of the vote, while Morant claimed 27% and Barrett and Reddish both had 5% of the vote.

The former Blue Devil also received 5% of the vote as to who would have the best NBA career as Cam Reddish brought in 19% of the vote.

ESPN also released projected as to who would in the Rookie of the Year Award and the World Wide Leader of Sports predicted Williamson would win the award, with Morant coming in second, and Barrett finishing in third.

In his lone season at Duke, R.J. Barrett averaged 22.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game en route to being named as a consensus All-American.

The No. 3 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft of the New York Knicks will have a lot of expectations on his shoulders in his rookie season as the Knicks were unable to sign a top-tier free agent this offseason.

After a 17-65 season last season and seeing its cross town rival in the Brooklyn Nets sign Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in the offseason, Knick fans are reeling for something or someone to latch onto and Barrett might just be their savior.

The New York Knicks tipoff its regular season in San Antonio against the Spurs on October 23 at 8:30pm EST.

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