The National Basketball Association's Rookie of the Year Award is an annual

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) award given to the top

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

(s) of the regular season. Initiated following the

1952–53 NBA season The 1952–53 NBA season was the seventh season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Minneapolis Lakers winning the NBA Championship, beating the New York Knicks 4 games to 1 in the NBA Finals. Notable occurrences * ...

, it confers the

Eddie Gottlieb Edward Gottlieb (born Isadore Gottlieb; September 15, 1898 – December 7, 1979) was a Jewish-Ukrainian professional basketball coach and executive. Nicknamed "Mr. Basketball" and "The Mogul", he was the first coach and manager of the Philadelph ...

Trophy, named after the former Philadelphia Warriors head coach. Starting with the 2022–23 NBA season, winners receive the

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain (; August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player who played as a center. Standing at tall, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 years and is widely reg ...

Trophy, named after the former Rookie of the Year winner. The winner is selected by a panel of United States and Canadian sportswriters and broadcasters, each casting first-, second-, and third-place votes (worth five points, three points, and one point, respectively). The player(s) with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award. The most recent Rookie of the Year winner is

Scottie Barnes Scott Wayne Barnes Jr. (born August 1, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Florida State Seminoles, earning third-team al ...

of the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

. Twenty-one winners were drafted first overall. Sixteen winners have also won the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in their careers with

and

Wes Unseld Westley Sissel Unseld Sr. (March 14, 1946June 2, 2020) was an American professional basketball player, coach and executive. He spent his entire National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets. Unseld ...

earning both honors the same season. Thirty of the non-active winners have been elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Three seasons had joint winners—

Dave Cowens David William Cowens ( ; born October 25, 1948) is an American former professional basketball player and NBA head coach. At , he played the center position and occasionally played power forward. Cowens spent most of his playing career with the B ...

and

Geoff Petrie Geoffrey Michael Petrie (born April 17, 1948) is an American former professional basketball player. A native of Pennsylvania, he played professional basketball in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Portland Trail Blazers where he ...

in the , Grant Hill and

Jason Kidd Jason Frederick Kidd (born March 23, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Regarded as one of the greatest point guards a ...

in the , and

Elton Brand Elton Tyron Brand (born March 11, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player and the general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After playing college basketball for Duke, he was selecte ...

and Steve Francis in the 1999–2000 season. Five players won the award unanimously (by capturing all of the first-place votes)—

Ralph Sampson Ralph Lee Sampson Jr. (born July 7, 1960) is an American former professional basketball player. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. A phenom, three-time college national player of the year, and first overall selec ...

David Robinson David Maurice Robinson (born August 6, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1989 to 2003, and minority owner of the Spurs. Nicknamed ...

Blake Griffin Blake Austin Griffin (born March 16, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners, when he was named the consen ...

Damian Lillard Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard Sr. (born July 15, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Weber State Wildcats and earned ...

, and

Karl-Anthony Towns Karl-Anthony Towns Jr. (born November 15, 1995), sometimes known as KAT (his initials), is a Dominican-American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basket ...

Patrick Ewing Patrick Aloysius Ewing (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Georgetown University men's team. He played most of his career as the starting center for the N ...

of Jamaica,

Pau Gasol Pau Gasol Sáez (, ; born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish former professional basketball player. He was a six-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA team selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. Gasol won two NBA champion ...

of Spain,

Kyrie Irving Kyrie Andrew Irving (; lkt, Ȟéla, italic=no, ; born March 23, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was named the Rookie of the Year after being selected ...

and Ben Simmons of Australia,

Andrew Wiggins Andrew Christian Wiggins (born February 23, 1995) is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected with the List of first overall NBA draft picks, first ov ...

of Canada, and

Luka Dončić Luka Dončić ( ; ; born February 28, 1999) is a Slovenian professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also represents the Slovenian national team. Born in Ljubljana, Dončić shone ...

of Slovenia are the only winners not born in the United States. Three of these individuals have dual nationality by birth—Wiggins and Simmons have American fathers, and both of Irving's parents are Americans. Ewing immigrated to the Boston area at age 11, Irving moved to the United States at age 2, and Wiggins and Simmons moved to the U.S. while in high school. Gasol and Dončić are the only winners trained entirely outside the United States. Chamberlain ( Harlem Globetrotters), Gasol (

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

of Liga ACB and EuroLeague), Dončić ( Real Madrid of Liga ACB and EuroLeague), and Ball ( BC Prienai of the

Lithuanian Basketball League Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

, the Los Angeles Ballers of the JBA, and the

Illawarra Hawks The Illawarra Hawks (formerly the Wollongong Hawks and The Hawks) is an Australian professional basketball team based in Wollongong, New South Wales. The Illawarra Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home game ...

of the NBL) all had professional careers outside the NBA prior to being drafted. Ball also had previously won the

NBL Rookie of the Year Award The National Basketball League Rookie of the Year is an annual National Basketball League (NBL) award given since the 1983 NBL season to the top rookie of the regular season. For a player to be considered for Rookie of the Year, they must be an ...

Winners

Kevin Durant Sonics practice facility Jan 3, 2008

Unofficial winners

Prior to the season, the Rookie of the Year was selected by newspaper writers; however, the NBA does not officially recognize those players as winners. The league did publish the pre-1953 winners in their 1994–95 edition of the ''Official NBA Guide'' and the 1994 ''Official NBA Basketball Encyclopedia'', but those winners have not been listed in subsequent publications.

Teams

Notes

References

;General * * ;Specific {{featured list Rookie of the Year National Basketball Association lists Awards established in 1953 Rookie player awards

Winners

Unofficial winners

Teams

See also

Notes

References