Magic Johnson names his choice for the NBA Rookie of the Year award

As far as Johnson is concerned, the race for the 2019-20 NBA Rookie of the Year award is not even close.

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The NBA announced this week that the media voting to determine to 2019-20 season awards will take place July 21-28 and will be based only on games played from the start of the regular season through March 11.

The eight “seeding games” set to tip-off July 30 through Aug. 14 will not count toward the season awards in order to create a fair voting process for players on all 30 teams in the league. The awards will be announced on TNT during its coverage of the NBA Playoffs.

With the voting process underway for a panel of global sportswriters and broadcasters, Hall of Famer Magic Johnson took to Twitter on Tuesday to announce his picks for the awards, including the 2019-20 NBA Rookie of the Year award.

As far as Johnson is concerned, there is no race for the Rookie of the Year.

Johnson named Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant the 2019-20 NBA Rookie of the Year and, according to his thinking, it is “not even close” in his mind.

Of course, Morant has emerged as the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year after his strong season with the Grizzlies. Morant is averaging 17.6 points, 6.9 assists and 3.5 rebounds and leads all first-year players in scoring, assists and field goals made

Morant views himself as the choice for Rookie of the Year, too.

In April, Miami Heat guard Kendrick Nunn anointed himself the Rookie of the Year in an interview with the Sun-Sentinel, a claim that Morant laughed off on social media. Nunn is averaging 15.6 points, 3.4 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game and is second to Morant in points and field goals.

In all likelihood, Morant will be crowned the Rookie of the Year and will be a virtual lock to be named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team based on his play this season.

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