On Thursday, the NBA announced that Ja Morant was named the Rookie of the Year. Morant was nearly a unanimous selection with Zion Williamson receiving the lone other first-place vote. Morant was a runaway winner with Kendrick Nunn of Miami finishing second, ahead of Williamson. Despite not receiving any first-place votes, Nunn received the most second- and third-place votes and was featured on 92 of the 100 ballots.
Aside from his lone first-place vote, Williamson received 37 second-place votes and 24 third-place votes. He was not included on 38 ballots.
Williamson played in just 24 of the Pelicans 72 games after missing most of the first-half of the season due to a knee injury. In those 24 games, Williamson did average 22.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 58.3% from the field.
Morant, meanwhile, played in 67 of the Grizzlies’ 73 games and averaged 17.8 points, 7.3 assists and shot 47.7% from the field.
Memphis’ Brandon Clarke was fourth in voting, Chicago’s Coby White was fifth, Golden State’s Eric Paschall was sixth, Toronto’s Terence Davis was seventh and New York’s RJ Barrett was eighth with one third-place vote.
