After his NBA days are over, John Wall may just have a career ahead of him in conflict resolution.
The Washington Wizards point guard said Wednesday that Utah’s Donovan Mitchell and Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons should both win Rookie of the Year.
“In my opinion, it should be co-Rookie of the Year,” said Wall, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. “I think this year’s Rookie of the Year [race] is pretty interesting. Nobody thought Utah would be in the position they [are] after they lost Gordon [Hayward] and those guys. And then Rudy Gobert has been out a lot. Donovan Mitchell is having a heck of a year. Then you have Ben and he’s doing what he’s doing.”
In addition to the incredible numbers that both Mitchell and Simmons have been putting up in leading their respective teams to the playoffs this season, the race has gotten especially juicy in recent days. The two players have been engaged in a funny back-and-forth over whether or not Simmons, who was drafted in 2016 and injured for all of his first season, is technically a rookie.
As for Wall, his perspective may have a personal slant to it — he famously missed out on Rookie of the Year honors in 2010-11 to Blake Griffin, who was also drafted a year earlier and missed his entire first season due to injury.
Co-Rookies of the Year has happened before, most recently with Elton Brand and Steve Francis in the 1999-2000 season. Jason Kidd and Grant Hill also split the honors back in 1994-95, which was back in the news again recently with both being elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the 2018 class. As such, Wall could very easily be onto something here.
