Magic Legend Chooses Franz Wagner Over Cade Cunningham For Rookie of the Year
The NBA released all of the voting information for its awards, and there were a few surprises in store.
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While the Orlando Magic were absent from most of the awards, rookie forward Franz Wagner received two votes for Rookie of the Year, even over Detroit Pistons guard and No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham.
Cunningham finished in 3rd place in the voting comfortably behind Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes and Cleveland Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley, who finished first and second respectively. There was a large gap between Cunningham and the rest of the rookies in the voting: Houston Rockets guard Jalen Green, Wagner, and New Orleans Pelicans forward Herb Jones.
Wagner received two third-place votes for his efforts, one from Khobi Price of the Orlando Sentinel, and the other from Magic legend Dennis Scott, who represents Turner Sports.
Scott was drafted by the Magic with the 4th overall pick in 1990, and spent the first seven seasons of his career with the franchise. He started 15 games during the Magic's NBA Finals run back in 1995 and averaged 14.7 points per game.
This isn't meant to be a knock on Wagner, who had a strong rookie campaign averaging 15.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. But his numbers weren't as strong as Cunningham's.
Cunningham averaged more points (17.4), rebounds (5.5) and assists (5.6) than Wagner did, while the Pistons (23-59) finished one game better than the Magic (22-60) in the standings.
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It's clear that even a quarter-century after his departure from his Orlando playing days that Scott still has a soft spot for the Magic.
