This year’s race for the Rookie of the Year award may have multiple players trying to climb that ladder. But there are only two players who the fans have a lock for the award. The first one is San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama. The other one is Oklahoma City Thunder’s rookie, Chet Holmgren. That said, a Houston Rockets legend believes that Holmgren should not be in the race while advising Gregg Popovich and the Spurs should fight for it.
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Houston Rockets legend Ralph Sampson recently made an appearance on NBA’s SiriusXM Radio. A former Rookie of the Year himself, Sampson believes that Chet Holmgren does not qualify for the ROTY award.
“He’s not really a rookie. I agree with that because he was around the game, in practice, watching films but also working out, right? As a pro. Now there’s a difference working out as a pro than Wembanyama working out overseas and playing games. So, there’s a big, big difference. So the body’s a little bit more mature, he knows the system a little bit better.”
“So, he’s not a real rookie…He’s got an advantage for sure. And it’s like the different types of advantage that they have, so I would fight against that if I was Wembanyama and Popovich to say he’s not a real rookie. I would definitely fight for that.”
Chet Holmgren was the second overall pick by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2022 NBA draft. However, due to an injury, Holmgren did not play the entirety of the 2022-23 NBA regular season.
While this may be considered Chet’s rookie year, Ralph Sampson does make some valid points. Holmgren has been around the NBA for more than a year, practicing with the team, working out, and watching game films.
Whereas Victor Wembanyama does not have that kind of advantage as he is in his first year with the San Antonio Spurs. However, it is highly unlikely that the head coach Gregg Popovich, and the Spurs will raise any concerns over it.
Should Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs fight this?
As per the latest rankings of the NBA, Victor Wembanyama is currently the leader of the Rookie of the Year ladder. Chet Holmgren is at the second spot right behind Wembanyama as the two battle it out for the ROTY honors.
The squabble between Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren for the Rookie of the Year award is something that ensued during the 2017-18 NBA season as well. And that that time it was Donovan Mitchell and Ben Simmons going at it.
Ben Simmons was the first overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft. However, he did not play the first year due to an injury and was included in the 2017 rookie draft class that was led by Donovan Mitchell.
Donovan Mitchell believed that Ben Simmons should not have been nominated for the Rookie of the Year award since he was drafted a year before which was indeed his rookie year in the league. Mitchell even went so far as to wear a hoodie with the word rookie and its definition on it, indirectly taking a shot at Simmons.
As mentioned above, it is highly unlikely that Victor Wembanyama or Gregg Popovich would fight with the league over Chet Holmgren’s eligibility for the Rookie of the Year award since something like this did happen before and that is how the league functions.
On the other hand, with the type of season Victor Wembanyama has been having, it may be safe to assume that no one from the Spurs organization might be worried about anyone beating Wemby for the ROTY honors. With only a few more games left in the regular season, let’s see who takes the award home in the end.
