Has Trae Young surpassed Luka Doncic?
This season, the NBA had a great draft class that contained players like Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Deandre Ayton, Mo Bamba, Marvin Bagley III, and so on. However, the race for the Rookie of the Year award is only between two guys: Luka Doncic and Trae Young.
Until a couple of months ago, Doncic was considered the unanimous Rookie of the Year but since then a lot has changed. After the All-Star Break, Young started to play at a whole new level doing incredible things night after night. In one game, the Hawks’ point guard scored 49 points while he also had some game winners, proving that he is a clutch basketball player.
Since February, Trae Young has had 6 games where he scored over 30 points, 9 games with a double-double, and one game with a triple-double. Right now, as stated on Basketball Reference, Young is averaging 18.9 PPG, 8.0 APG, and 3.6 RPG. On the other side, Luka Doncic has 21.1 PPG, 7.6 RP, and 5.9 APG. So let’s try to compare them.
Luka Doncic has a better average in points, rebounds, steals, and blocks, while Trae Young leads in assists. Then, if we look at their percentages, Luka Doncic is better at the 2 point shots (50% – 46.9%), but Young is better at the 3 point shots (32.7% – 33.1%) and at the free-throw line (70.9% – 82.3%).
Next step is to compare their advanced stats. Trae Young has a slightly better offensive rating, contributing to 107 points per 100 possessions as opposed to Luka Doncic who contributes to just 106 points. In the meantime, when the Slovenian is on the court Dallas Mavericks receive 109 points while Atlanta Hawks, with Trae Young on the court, gets 117 points. Luka Doncic also leads in win shares (4.6 – 2.8), in Box Plus/Minus (3.8 – -1.4), and in Value over Replacement Player (3.3 – 0.4).
Although I know that these stats don’t always show everything that happens on the court I still consider Luka Doncic to be this season’s ROTY because of his consistency. The Mavericks’ player started the year with his foot on the pedal and he hasn’t stopped since. However, Trae Young was amazing since February and if he continues like this I wouldn’t mind a co-award.
*info taken from basketball-reference.com
