Favorite already listed to win NBA Rookie of the Year next season

Feb 18, 2023; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; The NBA logo on the court at Huntsman Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

A favorite for next season’s NBA Rookie of the Year emerged after just one day of the NBA Draft.

The first round of the 2024 NBA Draft took place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Wednesday. French players were taken Nos. 1, 2 and 6 in the draft. One of those players — center Alexandre Sarr who went No. 2 overall to the Washington Wizards — is favored by many sportsbooks to win NBA Rookie of the Year next season. But SportsBetting.ag has chosen someone else as the favorite to win the award.

SportsBetting.ag has Stephon Castle listed as the favorite to win Rookie of the Year. They have him at 4-1 odds.

Castle was taken No. 4 overall by the San Antonio Spurs and will team up with last season’s NBA Rookie of the Year winner in Victor Wembanyama.

Here are the odds for next season’s NBA Rookie of the Year. We have only listed the players with odds 20-1 or better.

Stephon Castle 4/1
Alexandre Sarr 5/1
Zaccharie Risacher 6/1
Zach Edey 10/1
Dalton Knecht 12/1
Donovan Clingan 12/1
Cody Williams 14/1
Reed Sheppard 14/1
Tidjane Salaun 14/1
Ronald Holland 16/1
Matas Buzelis 20/1
Rob Dillingham 20/1

Not only does SportsBetting.ag have Castle as the favorite to win Rookie of the Year, but they also have Wembanyama as the heavy favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year next season.

Wembanyama is listed as a 2-3 favorite to win the award next season, while Rudy Gobert, who won the award last season, is listed at 7-1 odds to repeat.

Castle was a freshman at UConn last season and helped the Huskies win the national championship. He averaged 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. The Spurs could use an offensive threat, so he will likely have plenty of opportunities to score as a rookie next season.