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On Thursday, Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball was named one of three finalists to win the 2020-21 NBA Rookie of the Year award, the league announced.
He may be the frontrunner to win, based on some early voting results.
Joining Ball as finalists are Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards and Sacramento Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton. The three players earned the most votes from a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters.
With each ballot now cast, HoopsHype obtained some of the results from those media members that disclosed their votes, either publicly or privately. Based on the 18 ballots collected for the poll, Ball is the overwhelming favorite to claim the award.
(Numbers in parentheses show the percentage of points relative to the maximum amount possible for each award).
- LaMelo Ball (95.3 percent)
- Anthony Edwards (60 percent)
- Tyrese Haliburton (24.7 percent)
Ball averaged 15.7 points, 6.1 assists, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 51 games to lead the Hornets to the play-in tournament. He finished second in scoring average while he led all rookies in assists and steals during the regular season.
The Hornets guard missed 21 games with a wrist injury, but his time away from the court doesn’t appear to have hurt his chances at winning. While 18 ballots are hardly enough to crown Ball the winner, it shows that voters believe in his body of work over Edwards and Haliburton.
The winner will be announced on TNT during its coverage of the playoffs.
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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