NBA Rookie of the Year

National Basketball Association awards and honors
Team awards
Individual awards
Honors
NBA Rookie of the Year
SportBasketball
LeagueNational Basketball Association
Awarded forBest first year player in regular season of the National Basketball Association
History
First award1952–53
Most recentVictor Wembanyama
(San Antonio Spurs)

The National Basketball Association's Rookie of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given to the top rookie(s) of the regular season. Initiated following the 1952–53 NBA season, it confers the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy, named after the former Philadelphia Warriors head coach. Since the 2022–23 NBA season, winners receive the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy, named after the former Rookie of the Year winner.

The winner is selected by a panel of United States and Canadian sportswriters and broadcasters,[1] each casting first-, second-, and third-place votes (worth five points, three points, and one point, respectively). The player(s) with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.[2]

The most recent Rookie of the Year winner is Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs. Twenty-two winners were drafted first overall. Sixteen winners have also won the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in their careers with Wilt Chamberlain and Wes Unseld earning both honors the same season. Thirty of the non-active winners have been elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Three seasons had joint winners—Dave Cowens and Geoff Petrie in the 1970–71 season, Grant Hill and Jason Kidd in the 1994–95 season, and Elton Brand and Steve Francis in the 1999–2000 season.[3] Six players won the award unanimously (by capturing all of the first-place votes)—Ralph Sampson, David Robinson, Blake Griffin, Damian Lillard, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Victor Wembanyama.[4][5]

Patrick Ewing of Jamaica,[6] Pau Gasol of Spain, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons of Australia, Andrew Wiggins of Canada, Luka Dončić of Slovenia, and Victor Wembanyama of France are the only winners not born in the United States. Three of these individuals have dual nationality by birth—Wiggins and Simmons have American fathers, and both of Irving's parents are Americans. Ewing immigrated to the Boston area at age 11, Irving moved to the United States at age 2, and Wiggins and Simmons moved to the U.S. while in high school. Gasol, Dončić, and Wembanyama are the only winners trained entirely outside the United States.

Chamberlain (Harlem Globetrotters), Gasol (FC Barcelona of Liga ACB and EuroLeague), Dončić (Real Madrid of Liga ACB and EuroLeague), LaMelo Ball (BC Prienai of the Lithuanian Basketball League, the Los Angeles Ballers of the JBA, and the Illawarra Hawks of the NBL), and Wembanyama (Nanterre 92, ASVEL, and Metropolitans 92 of LNB Élite) all had professional careers outside the NBA prior to being drafted. Ball also had previously won the NBL Rookie of the Year Award.

  1. ^ "Wolves' Towns named 2015–16 Kia Rookie of the Year". NBA.com. May 16, 2016. Archived from the original on May 16, 2016. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  2. ^ "Trail Blazers' Brandon Roy Named 2006-07 T-Mobile NBA Rookie of the Year". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. May 3, 2007. Archived from the original on January 16, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2008.
  3. ^ "Brand, Francis named NBA co-rookies of the year". CBC Sports. November 10, 2000. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2008.
  4. ^ "It's unanimous: Karl-Anthony Towns gets every first-place vote for Rookie of the Year". StarTribune.com. Minneapolis Star Tribune. May 16, 2016. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  5. ^ "Unanimous NBA Rookie of the Year Winners". GiveMeSport. August 20, 2024. Retrieved November 13, 2024.
  6. ^ "Bargnani becomes first European top NBA draft pick". People's Daily Online. June 29, 2006. Archived from the original on October 11, 2012. Retrieved June 16, 2008.