NBA Buy or Sell: Zion Williamson could still win Rookie of the Year

Buy or Sell: Zion Williamson could still win Rookie of the Year

Zion Williamson looks like he’s going to win a lot of hardware over the course of his career, but the Rookie of the Year Award won’t be part of his collection. Since he made his debut last month, Williamson has lived up to the immense hype as he has quickly developed into a productive highlight machine for the Pelicans. However, he missed the first 44 games of his rookie campaign, and in that time, Grizzlies guard Ja Morant built up too large of a lead for Williamson to make up in the second half of the season (barring a major injury for Morant, of course, which no one wants to see).

Morant has been as good as Memphis had hoped after it made him the No. 2 overall pick in the draft last June. He’s averaging 17.5 points, 7.1 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game, and looking like a future perennial All-Star. He also has the Grizzlies, currently eighth in the West, competing for a playoff spot; a position not many expected them to be in prior to the season’s start. There’s also recent precedent for a lack of games costing a player this very award. In 2016-17, Joel Embiid was statistically superior to Malcolm Brogdon, but Embiid only played in 33 games for Philadelphia while Brogdon appeared in 75 for the Bucks, and Brogdon went on the win the award. Williamson may well go on to be the best player from his draft class, but the fact that he missed the first half of the season — while Morant has been playing well all season — will cost him the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy.

source : cbssports