In past seasons, the Rookie of the Year races have usually had a clear candidate throughout the campaign, but this time around there is not Victor Wembanyama or Paolo Banchero. Most of the time, the award-winners have been picked unanimously, as was the case for Luka Doncic, Ja Morant and many others.
In a way, everyone had a clear idea of who was going to conquer the accolade even before the ballots were cast, there was no real mystery. However, this 2024-25 season, no rookie has emerged as the leader of this year’s class. Believe it or not, there isn’t a player even close to average 15 points per game, or even play enough games to lead the board.
According to most sportbooks, the favorite to earn this rookie of the year is an athlete who has only started in four games so far this season, is Heat‘s Kel’el Ware. “It means I’m doing something right on the court,” the player said recently about him leading the race.
Kel’el Ware opened at +20000 to win Rookie of the Year 🤯
The Heat big man is currently the favorite (+140) to win the award. pic.twitter.com/0MZ58TNzLu
— ESPN BET (@ESPNBET) January 29, 2025
Unfortunately, the runner-up wasn’t even chosen to be a part of the he Rising Stars event at All-Star weekend. But this doesn’t mean his own teammates don’t see enormous potential in him. “Believe it or not, he’s been ready since he came here,” said Miami teammate Tyler Herro.
He then added: “When he wasn’t in the rotation, he was just overly communicative about how he wants to be in the rotation and how he feels like he can help. I always felt like he could help. And now, him just getting his opportunity, I think everybody is starting to see what he’s capable of.”
Other than the Miami rookie, who else is competing for the NBA 2024-25 Rookie of the Year award?
According to most sportbooks, as of this week, these are the main candidates for the rookie prise. While Ware (+200) tops the list, San Antonio’s Stephon Castle (+275) is coming in second, and Memphis Grizzlies’ Jaylen Wells and Washington’s Alexandre Sarr (both +350) are tied for third place.
Coming in the race’s fifth spot is Zach Edey (+1400), who would probably rank higher in the list if he hadn’t fallen to injury at the start of the campaign. Apart from these five athletes, all the rest is at least 40-1 at this point in the season.
If Castle ends up taking the rookie title by the end of the campaign, the San Antonio franchise would have achieved a feat that has only been done once in the past 50 years, which is to earn back-to-back of these titles. This happened back in 2015 and 2016 when Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns won them for the Wolves.
