NBA 2018-19 Player Comparisons: Luka Doncic vs Trae Young - Who will win The ROY?
Luka Doncic led one of the best draft classes in ages. Almost every team wanted to draft and wanted him to lead their team. The Phoenix Suns decided to draft hometown star DeAndre Ayton while the Kings were not sure Luka Doncic wanted to stay with them.
The Atlanta Hawks had landed the 3rd pick while the Dallas Mavericks had the 5th, so they decided to trade their pick to Atlanta along with a 2019 first round pick. The Hawks ended up picking Luka Doncic and traded him for Trae Young and the Dallas pick.
Since then, there have been endless arguments about whether the deal the Hawks did was a good one or not, with the scales tipping on the negative side since Doncic came out the gate with an NBA ready game and had some superb performances.
Young had started off the season slowly but has now been one of the best players in the league now. Doncic and Young have been a part of each other's destiny ever since the trade and are now becoming cornerstones of their own franchises.
Let us look at the player comparisons between the 2 of them and the player who is likeliest to win the Rookie of the Year:
Season Statistics
Trae Young has been superb this season and just stepped up his game of late, averaging 18.7 points, 7.9 assists and 3.6 rebounds a game this season. He has stepped it up since the All-Star Game, scoring 23.3 points per game, 9 assists, 4.6 rebounds per game as well.
Luka Doncic has been no pushover as well and has been leading the rookies with scoring, averaging 21 points, 7.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists as well, on track to become the first rookie since Micheal Jordan to average 21 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
He also has a true shooting percentage of 54.7% this season, while Trae has been at 53.2%. Doncic's usage has been through the roof too, with a 30.2% usage and has been playing just 32 minutes a game, compared to Young, who has had a 28% usage and plays 31 minutes a game.
Final Verdict:
Doncic edges out Young in a really close call as Doncic is having a statistical season that has not been accomplished since Jordan in his rookie year and that just puts him over Young in the discussion of Rookie of the Year.