Dallas Mavericks: End of season awards predictions roundtable

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Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

Rookie of the Year

Luka Doncic

“Don’t believe this narrative that Trae Young is in the conversation for Rookie of the Year. He’s not. If you look at the full body of work, it’s not that close. Trae Young had an incredible rookie year, but Luka’s was historic. Easy pick for me.” –Sean Bush

“Seems like this is a high on debate…NOT. I’m sorry (not really), but how is it that you can compare a player who has tied for fourth most triple doubles this season against a player who found his groove in the second half of the season? No offense to Trae Young at all, but even he should know that Luka Doncic is the obvious choice for Rookie of the Year. This isn’t any argument. That is a confirmation.” –Arsal Hussain

“It has to be Luka. Trae Young was really good this year, and he deserves some recognition. But Doncic was better all year. I won’t throw numbers at you. You can find plenty of articles that use statistics to detail why Doncic deserves the award over Young. I just know what I saw.

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Doncic was a key piece of a team that fighting for a playoff spot early in the season, and then he was the focal point of an offense stripped of all its parts in the second half of the year. In both roles he performed like a franchise player, and he did so at a young age. He’s the Rookie of the Year.” –Ben Zajdel

“Trae Young’s last month and a half run was cool. However, if your first few months of the season were forgettable, was the race ever close to begin with? Luka swept the rookie of the month honors out West. For at least a few months, Luka carried Dallas to the point of having playoff aspirations wasn’t wishful thinking.

No need for a deep-diving feature, Luka is the obvious choice.” –Lance Roberson

“A number of rookies had very nice seasons this year in the NBA. Collin Sexton, Marvin Bagley and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander all enjoyed successful first years, and Trae Young proved himself as an offensive machine, at least from beyond the arc. But no one was nearly as good as Luka Doncic.

The Slovenian rookie was an instant star for the Mavericks and may have had one of the top ten rookie seasons in NBA history. Compared to the other rookies in this class, Doncic so far looks like the only one who could one day be the best player on a championship team, and is already good enough to be a dark-horse for the MVP discussion next year.” –Evan Siegel

“It’s not close people. Luka Doncic is the Rookie of the Year and quite possibly the Rookie of the Decade. Trae Young may be the Rookie of the Year in most previous years, but I still feel that Luka should be the unanimous choice.” –Kohl Rast