Dallas Mavericks roundtable: Who will win the NBA end of season awards?

Rookie Of the Year

Zion Williamson

“Zion Williamson. Don’t overthink it. People made that mistake last year with Luka Doncic. Zion is the clear-cut best player and most NBA ready player from his class and usually that guy finds a way to take home the ROY. I understand the concerns about if he will score enough on a team that has a lot of surrounding talent, but Zion is talented enough that the ball will find him early and often. When in doubt, pick the best player.” –Sean Bush

“Zion Williamson. Zion is in a perfect situation for him to flourish. He’s got defensive point guards who know how to facilitate, he’s going big men who can bang down low, he’s got shooters on the bench to draw attention from the defenses, all while the offense is built around him.” –Charles Allen

“Even after the torn meniscus, Williamson is far and away the most talented prospect to come out of the draft since Lebron James. The Pelicans don’t have too many other bodies to feed offensively, giving the ball to Williamson exclusively. Williamson may not run away with the award as he will miss at least two months with the injury but it is his to lose.” –Evan Siegel

“I think this season will replicate last year in terms of how “close the runner-up is to the eventual winner. Although Zion Williams is surrounded by vets and talented players, I think he will still demand the ball off of physique alone. Ja Morant is on a lowly Memphis Grizzlies team. Thus, making for a bunch of empty counting stats, which typically wins the award. However, if the Pelicans make it to the postseason, there is no doubt Williamson wins Rookie of the Year.” –Lance Roberson

RJ Barrett

“RJ Barrett. He will have plenty of time on a terrible New York Knicks team and I already felt like he was the most NBA ready player in the 2019 draft class. It doesn’t hurt that Zion will be missing a large portion of the season with a knee injury, either.” –Keatn Rast

“With Zion out, this award is RJ Barrett’s to lose, in my opinion. Although Ja Morant was drafted ahead of him, Barrett is the highest powered offensive player from this draft class and that may include Zion. I don’t expect him to hit the ground running, but given some time to develop, he could be a really nice offensive weapon.” –Kohl Rast

Tyler Herro

“As surprising as it may come, I think that Tyler Herro should be the Rookie of the Year. Jimmy Butler, who is expected to be the main star of the team, will need a sidekick especially when it comes to perimeter shooting, one of Herro’s talents. I still think Zion is no doubt an amazing player, but sometimes the underdog has the biggest shot.” –Arsal Hussain

Ja Morant

“There are so many possibilities here, but I’ll have to go with Ja Morant. I do think Zion Williamson will be the more exciting player, but Morant is already a capable playmaker as well as scorer and rebounding guard. Morant should score on par with the Duke product but I look for him to have double the assists and most likely will not be a slouch in the rebounding department either. When discussing Rookie of the Year, typically a team’s success is not correlated with votes (see Luka Doncic) but rather individual statistics. As we all know, Morant is a guy who can do all of this.” –Josh Gamel