Trae Young's game-winning play, no doubt about it, was magnificent, as was his overall performance.
In most years, Young's running floater with one-tenth of a second left in the Hawks' 129-127 victory over Philadelphia on Saturday night would have been the exclamation point on a Rookie of the Year-statement night.
But not on this night. Not this season.
Not with the superior-in-virtually-every-way year Luka Doncic is having.
We, however, live in the Argumentative Age, so, predictably, no sooner had Young's game-winner dropped through the hoop when contrarian absurdity, bordering on taunting, ensued.
"Doncic who?" Hawks radio play-by-play voice Steve Holman shrieked.
"ROY @TheTraeYoung" Utah's Donovan Mitchell tweeted.
"I second that," Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma tweeted in reply.
"Third," chimed Detroit's Blake Griffin.
Evidently the Young faction, whose support naturally has simmered with Young's increased production in recent weeks, believed Saturday night was his ROY candidacy's boiling-point moment.
But roughly 20 minutes after Young's game-winner, 2,100 miles away in Oracle Arena, Doncic exited the Mavericks' 35-point victory against albeit Steph Curry-less Golden State with his sixth triple-double _ 23 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists _ in 27:20 of court time.
Oops. As Emily Litella used to say, "Never mind."
Young has in fact been the league's most productive since the All-Star break, averaging 25.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 8.8 assists in 16 games to Doncic's averages of 22.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 6.6 assists.
That, however, is a fractional sample size compared to their pre-All-Star-break 50-plus-game averages: 20.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.6 assists by Doncic; 16.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 7.6 assists by Young.
Let's put it this way: If this indeed is a season-long ROY "race," Doncic took a five-length lead in October-November, extended to a 10-lengths lead in December and to 12 in January. February was a push and Young, at most, has gained three lengths in March.
Seventeen days remain in the season. Doncic has had some fatigue-stumbles, like Thursday's 4-for-19 performance at Sacramento on a back-to-back, but he in no way is faltering, as evidenced by his averages.
Earlier last week in Portland, Blazers coach and OU product Terry Stotts was asked whether he believes Doncic will win ROY.
"You know, I don't want to go against my Oklahoma guy, but it certainly looks like it," he said.
To which Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle later retorted with a laugh: "Wow what a bold prediction. He really put himself out there, didn't he?
"I don't like to count chickens before they're hatched, but it's pretty clear that Luka is having a phenomenal year. I know other rookies are playing well, but his level has been truly special."
That's the point here. In this Rookie of the Year conversation, there shouldn't be a slight of either player. In many other years, Young would be the front-runner, but not this season, not with coaches around the league comparing Doncic to the sport's greats, comparisons we don't hear with Young, at least not yet.
"I think if anything Luka looks more like a descendent of Dirk [Nowitzki's], Kevin Durant's, these playmaking wings who are big and can handle the ball and play with skill but also dominate the game sort of just with their presence," Warriors coach Steve Kerry said Saturday night.
"For a rookie to do what he's doing? He's got that look, where, 'OK, that's an All-Star. That's going to be the cornerstone of the franchise.' From that point, who knows? But that's a pretty good start. He's having an amazing rookie year and doing things that you don't expect from most first-year guys."
Told of Kerr's comments, Doncic shrugged: "I don't know. I just think I can play. I can play in this league. A lot of people didn't think so, but I think I showed some of them that I can play _ and we did a great job today (against the Warriors) as a team."
Some folks in Atlanta seem to have a Luka Complex, much like Houstonians view Dallasites and, if you ask Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger, Aggies view Longhorns.
The reality is that the Mavericks-Hawks draft night trade is the definition of win-win. The Mavericks got this season's best rookie, a now-20-year-old with potential to become a transcendent player.
The Hawks got this season's second-best rookie, an electric talent who has proved a lot of people, present company included, dead wrong. And since the Hawks also got Dallas' first-round pick this June or next, it looks increasingly likely that Atlanta will "win" the trade.
The Mavericks won't lose any sleep if that happens, given how they feel about the player they got.
Doncic who? The Rookie of the Year, that's who.
