2022-23 NBA Midseason Awards Media Poll: Rookie of the Year
With just over six weeks left in the 2022-23 NBA regular season, not only will the race for who will and who will not make the playoffs heat up, but so will the race for this season’s awards.
Will Nikola Jokic be dethroned as the back-to-back recipient of the Most Valuable Player award? Is the race for the Most Improved Player award a two-man race between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lauri Markanen? With all the great teams this season, who will ultimately be named the league’s Coach of the Year?
Fastbreak on FanNation polled 25 different NBA media members, some who cover the league as a whole and some who cover an individual team, asking them these specific questions and gathering their results.
Below are the results from the voting that took place for the 2022-23 NBA Rookie of the Year award at the All-Star break:
Media Members Pick To Win 2022-23 NBA Rookie of the Year:
Paolo Banchero - Orlando Magic (23 votes)
While he did miss some time earlier in the season, the race for this year’s Rookie of the Year award seems to be over with Paolo Banchero being the heavy favorite.
The impact Banchero has made on the Orlando Magic has been very vast, as they have been lacking a key scoring weapon like him for years.
Playing in a total of 52 games at the All-Star break, Banchero has averaged 19.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game while shooting 41.9 percent from the floor. All he needs to do is increase his three-point shooting numbers and all of a sudden, we will be talking about the top overall pick being a first time All-Star in the near future.
This season, Paolo Banchero leads all rookies in scoring (19.9), field goals made (338), total minutes played (1,755) and he is currently tied with Bennedict Mathurin from the Indiana Pacers in total points scored (1,033).
Receiving all but two votes for Rookie of the Year in this poll is not surprising, especially since Banchero has looked like a star in his rookie year.
Mathurin has been having a stellar rookie season as well and received the only other two outstanding votes shown above.
The Pacers have leaned on Tyrese Haliburton to lead them into a new era, but Mathurin will need to be right by his side and continue being a two-way threat on the wing if Indiana is to get back to being a real playoff contender.
Scoring at a high rate off-the-bench this season, Mathruin is also in contention for this season’s Sixth Man of the Year award.
When the final vote is done by the NBA, Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey, Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray and Oklahoma City Thunder guard/forward Jalen Williams will all likely receive some votes for Rookie of the Year, but they will all undoubtedly be named All-Rookie talents.
