Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young & Luka Doncic Should Be Co-Rookies of the Year
By Chris Guest
Stats for Both Players Since January 1
Again, this is not meant as a smear campaign against Doncic as his production all season has been truly astonishing, and Luka’s exploits were widely lauded on this site heading into the draft. Even with Luka’s recent swoon, his raw points-per-game production of 22.6 points since January 1st is tops among rookies per NBA.com.
Doncic’s 8.8 rebounds per game over that time frame rank second among rookies (only behind DeAndre Ayton) and his 6.6 assists are also second (behind only Ice Trae). He has also notched 6 triple-doubles in that time frame.
Just to reiterate: Those numbers are insane and clearly deserving of a Rookie of the Year award.
But over that same time frame, let’s look at Trae Young’s numbers: 21.6 points per game (2nd), 8.3 assists per game (1st by a wide margin), 4.3 rebounds per game (6th, which is impressive for a 6-foot-2 point guard).
He has amassed 15 double-doubles over that span, which is second only to Doncic and one ahead of walking double-double Ayton. Young also has the only triple-double by a rookie this season that doesn’t belong to Doncic.
In that time frame, no rookie is making more three-pointers per game than Trae Young at 2.5 per contest. Landry Shamet of the Clippers is just behind at 2.4 per game.
Let’s dig a bit deeper on Trae’s shooting compared to Doncic’s.