Zion Williamson probably would have run away with the NBA’s Rookie of the Year Award if he didn’t miss the first three months of the season, but his knee injury has seemingly opened the door for Ja Morant to run away with the hardware. While there may be some people who still want Williamson to win it, Morant is giving the nod to himself.
In an appearance on “Take it There with Taylor Rooks” this week, Morant said he doesn’t think the Rookie of the Year race is close. You can see his remarks at around the 1:28 mark below.
“I deserve it.” @JaMorant says he’s ROY over Zion
He also names MJ as the GOAT, says who he wouldn’t want to be quarantined with and updates his dream starting 5 in a new interview with @TaylorRooks pic.twitter.com/HCYLc5HHUA
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 21, 2020
“I feel like I’ve done enough. I deserve it,” Morant said. “I feel like my play this year proved all that. I’ve had a great season so far. You know, (the virus) stopped that short a little bit.”
Williamson’s stats are better than Morant’s, but the body of work is nowhere near as complete. Morant is averaging 17.6 points, 6.9 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 59 games, while Williamson has posted 23.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.2. assists in just 19 games. The sample size simply isn’t large enough.
Williamson recently said he understands that he has not put in enough work to win the Rookie of the Year Award, and he insists he’ll be happy for Morant if Morant wins it. We’re not going to see a Rookie of the Year beef like the one we saw between Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell two years ago.
