New favorite emerges for NBA Rookie of the Year award

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 new favorite has emerged for the NBA Rookie of the Year award, and it’s not someone who was previously regarded as a serious candidate for the honor.

BetOnline.ag has updated its odds for the NBA season awards. They now have Jared McCain as the new favorite for Rookie of the Year. What’s amazing is that McCain didn’t even have odds for the award as of a month ago. However, he was listed as a better than an even-money favorite at 5/8 odds (-160) at the time this was published on Monday.

McCain was a first-round pick by the Philadelphia 76ers in June. The former Duke guard began the season as a bench player, but he started playing significant minutes in November. He averaged 19.1 points per game on 45.1 percent shooting last month. For the season, the No. 16 overall pick is averaging 16.0 points on 44.8 percent shooting.

Though the Sixers are 4-14 and have been a disaster this season, the pick of McCain has been one thing they got right.

In a season where Paul George hurt his knee, Tyrese Maxey has dealt with a hamstring injury, and Joel Embiid has been managing his knee injury, it’s nice to have a rookie like McCain step up.

Here is a social media of McCain in his honor:

I need him to recreate this tiktok but with Embiid Maxey and PG lmaooooo pic.twitter.com/Qg8hnkJQWd

— Wemby Central (@WembyCentral) November 21, 2024