The National Basketball Association's Rookie of the Year Award is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given to the top rookie(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 1953 NBA Finals, NBA Finals. Notabl ...

, it confers the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy, named after the former

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head coach. Starting with the

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, winners receive the Wilt Chamberlain 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 of the Toronto Raptors. Twenty-one winners were drafted first overall. Sixteen winners have also won the

NBA Most Valuable Player The National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1955–56 season to the best performing player of the regular season. Starting with the 2022–23 ...

(MVP) award in their careers with Wilt Chamberlain and Wes Unseld earning both honors the same season. Thirty of the non-active winners have been elected to the

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. Three seasons had joint winners— Dave Cowens and Geoff Petrie in the ,

Grant Hill Grant Henry Hill (born October 5, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player who is a co-owner and executive of the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He attended Duke University and is widely consider ...

and Jason Kidd in the , and Elton Brand and Steve Francis in the 1999–2000 season. Five players won the award unanimously (by capturing all of the first-place votes)— Ralph Sampson, David Robinson, Blake Griffin,

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 earne ...

, and Karl-Anthony Towns. Patrick Ewing of Jamaica, Pau Gasol of Spain, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons of Australia, Andrew Wiggins of Canada, and Luka Dončić 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

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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 (

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), Gasol (

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

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of the JBA, and the Illawarra Hawks 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 The 1983 NBL season was the fifth season of the National Basketball League (NBL). The regular season began ...

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