After a frigid start that reminded many of why people were down on the 2024 NBA Draft class, the 2025 Rookie of the Year (ROY) race is finally starting to heat up.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia 76ers guard Jared McCain<\/a> and Los Angeles Lakers wing Dalton Knecht<\/a>, selected back-to-back in the draft, have been playing so well they might be finalists if the season ended today. Utah Jazz big man Kyle Filipowski<\/a>, whose slide down draft boards became a contentious topic, has stepped up as well<\/a>. Meanwhile, last week\u2019s early frontrunners<\/a> have essentially held steady.<\/p>\n With so many rookies beginning to catch their stride, here are the current favorites for Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n Everybody seemed to know thatm McCain was a lottery talent<\/a> before the 2024 NBA Draft. Yet, he landed right outside of it, with the Sixers selecting him 16th overall. Perhaps the Californians sunny personality threw teams off. They didn\u2019t know he was a stone cold killer.<\/p>\n McCain is averaging 15.2 points per game, the highest in his class, and converting 40.8 percent of his threes. Over his last six contests, he\u2019s averaging 24.2 points (on 44.1 percent shooting from three) and 4.0 assists per game.<\/p>\n McCain\u2019s numbers have come while stepping in for an injured player who will definitely get his starting job back<\/a>, no matter how good he looks. However, Philadelphia could start McCain alongside Tyrese Maxey<\/a> when he returns, which would likely take pressure off of him in the backcourt. Furthermore, because of the Sixers\u2019 plan to rest Joel Embiid<\/a> and Paul George<\/a> on back-to-backs, he\u2019ll have plenty of opportunities to shine<\/a>.<\/p>\n With his shooting stroke, feel, and ability to create space, he\u2019s been the best rookie so far.<\/p>\n Because of his hot start, it\u2019s difficult to move Memphis Grizzlies mountain Zach Edey<\/a> out of the top-three. He does have competition though.<\/p>\n His teammate, Jaylen Wells<\/a>, hasn\u2019t had pristine efficiency lately. However, he\u2019s been playing more consequential minutes than Edey, who Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins has moved to the bench to better execute his preferred scheme. Washington Wizards point guard Bub Carrington<\/a>, who appears to be a draft steal, hasn\u2019t slowed down<\/a>. San Antonio Spurs swiss army knife Stephon Castle<\/a> has been much improved over the last week. The same holds true for Portland Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan<\/a>, the player Memphis was expected to draft.<\/p>\n None of that changes the fact that Edey is a game-changer when he\u2019s out on the floor. The intimidation factor, which prevents opponents from even attempting shots at the rim, might not show up on the stat sheet. However, his all-around game does. Over the past five games, Edey is averaging 11.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.6 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 66.7 percent from three.<\/p>\n He\u2019s the only rookie ranking in the top-five in points (156), rebounds (97), blocks (14), and steals (12).<\/p>\n Though seen as a lottery talent, Knecht fell to 17th because of his age.<\/p>\n At 23 years old, he\u2019s more experienced than the typical rookie. Yet, franchises are often more concerned about how long they can keep a player under contract. In theory, Knecht\u2019s career could last five fewer years than the youngest player in his class (18-year-old Ulrich Chomche). That being said, teams may want to reevaluate that model.<\/p>\n Knecht\u2019s NBA-readiness has him looking like he\u2019ll be sticking around longer than many of his classmates.<\/p>\n Over his last four games, Knecht is averaging 24.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.0 steal per contest, all while hitting 67.7 percent of his threes. He obviously will cool down eventually. However, there\u2019s nothing that says he won\u2019t get the same opportunities. Because he primarily plays as an off-ball shooter, his shots come within the flow of the offense. He also plays for a coach who was once one of the best shooting specialists in the NBA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After a frigid start that reminded many of why people were down on the 2024 NBA Draft class, the 2025 Rookie of the Year (ROY) race is finally starting to heat up. NBA ROY Race: Jared McCain, Dalton Knecht State Their Case Philadelphia 76ers guard Jared McCain and Los Angeles Lakers wing Dalton Knecht, selected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":108026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,26,32,556,13,23,34,24,18],"tags":[49333,49212,49145,49067,49556,48982,98,49264,4741],"class_list":["post-108011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-grizzlies","category-nba-draft","category-76ers","category-trailblazers","category-spurs","category-jazz","category-wizards","tag-bub-carrington","tag-dalton-knecht","tag-donovan-clingan","tag-jared-mccain","tag-jaylen-wells","tag-kyle-filipowski","tag-nba-draft","tag-stephon-castle","tag-zach-edey"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. Jared McCain<\/h3>\n
2. Zach Edey<\/h3>\n
3. Dalton Knecht<\/h3>\n