Former Duke basketball star Zion Williamson has no shot in ROY race
Former Duke basketball standout Zion Williamson doesn’t stand a chance in the Rookie of the Year race following his injury-shortened season.
Entering the 2019-20 NBA season, it was always a two-horse race for the Rookie of the Year Award between Zion Williamson and Ja Morant.
However, that race was quickly derailed following Williamson’s knee surgery late in the preseason causing him to miss the first handful of months of the season.
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Without their No. 1 overall pick in the fold, the New Orleans Pelicans were in striking distance of the Memphis Grizzlies for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference upon Zion’s debut on January 22 and many thought that if the former Blue Devil were to lead his team to the playoffs over Morant’s Grizzlies, he would be the Rookie of the Year.
Then the coronavirus pandemic shut down the NBA, and Williamson’s rookie season after just 19 games, all but ending his chance at the award since the league decided not to count the games inside the bubble in Orlando, Florida for regular season awards.
In his 19 regular season games, Williamson averaged 23.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game as the Pelicans appeared to have punted on their chances of making the playoffs following a horrific loss to the Sacramento Kings and then sitting Zion the following game in a win over the Washington Wizards.
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Ja Morant logged 64 regular season games in his rookie season, averaging 17.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 7.1 assists as the former AAU teammates are also joined by Kendrick Nunn of the Miami Heat as the finalists for the Rookie of the Year Award, the NBA announced on Saturday afternoon.
Nunn averaged 15.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game in 66 games played.
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The winners of the Rookie of the Year Award, as well as the other major awards in the league, will be announced on TNT throughout the remainder of the restart and the NBA Playoffs on TNT.