The Rookie of the Year Award is reportedly going to be awarded to Kyrie Irving, and this is news that should come as no surprise. Â Read more after the jump.
According to Fox Sports’Â Chris Tomasson, Irving will be handed the trophy early next week.
The sensational first-year player for the Cleveland Cavaliers took the NBA by storm and proved he was worthy of the No. 1 overall pick the Cavs spent on him in the 2011 NBA draft.
Irving is now in an elite fraternity that includes the likes of Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Lew Alcindor, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron Jamesand Kevin Durant—just to name a few.
It wasn’t much of a competition after Ricky Rubio went down with a season-ending ACL injury.
The young Timberwolves star’s incredible campaign ended after 41 games in which he averaged 10.6 PPG, 8.2 APG and 4.2 RPG while having Minnesota on the cusp of playoff contention.
Other contenders for the award included Kenneth Faried, who is having a solid season for the playoff-bound Nuggets and earned the starting PF job, Klay Thompson—the Washington State product who took over the starting SG spot in Golden State after the Monta Ellis trade and has been lighting it up with his scoring and Isaiah Thomas—the undersized last pick of the second round who has come out of nowhere to put up respectable numbers for the Kings.
However, none of those guys had nearly the impact that Kyrie had on the Cavaliers and their stats were not nearly as impressive.
Cleveland still has a long way to go in their recovery from LeBron James’ departure to South Beach, but Irving’s presence will certainly expedite that healing process.
