Former Illini Kendrick Nunn Finishes 2nd In NBA Rookie Of The Year Voting
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- A former Illinois guard finished second, one place ahead of No. 1 pick Zion Williamson, in the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award voting, announced Friday.
Kendrick Nunn, a former Big Ten All-Freshman Team selection while a member of the Illini basketball team, garnered the most second place votes and finished 294 voting points behind award winner Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Nunn averaged 10.6 points per game in 96 career games over three seasons at Illinois that included 61 starts. The 6-foot-2 guard, who is one of five players in Simeon Academy High School history to have his jersey retired (the others are Derrick Rose, Ben Wilson, Bobby Simmons, and his high school teammate Jabari Parker) after he earned four state championships, is averaging 15.3 points per game for a Miami Heat team that is currently up 2-0 on the top seed Milwaukee Bucks in the 2020 Eastern Conference quarterfinals of the 2020 NBA playoffs.
Miami Heat guard Kendrick Nunn shoots during practice for the NBA All Star-Rising Stars Game at Wintrust Arena.
Quinn Harris/USA TODAY Sports
Nunn was dismissed from the Illinois basketball team by head coach John Groce on May 24, 2016 after Nunn pled guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge two months earlier. Nunn transferred to Oakland University where, after sitting out the 2016-17 season due to NCAA transfer rules, he averaged 25.9 points per game in 26 starts on his way to being named Horizon League Player of the Year.
Nunn was not picked in the 2018 NBA draft and would play on a NBA Summer League team sponsored by the Golden State Warriors but was not signed. The Heat signed Nunn on April 10, 2019 and Nunn became the first undrafted player in NBA history to win multiple Rookie of the Month awards. Nunn was named to the Rising Stars Game at the 2020 NBA All-Star Game in his hometown of Chicago where he scored 16 points for Team USA.
Morant, who was picked No. 2 in the 2019 NBA draft, received 99 of 100 Rookie of the Year first place votes by selected media. Nunn received 56 second-place votes and 36 third-place votes. The rest of the top five of the Rookie of the Year voting was Williamson, Memphis’ Brandon Clarke and Colby White of the Chicago Bulls.