The season is at the halfway point as most teams around the NBA have played at least half of their 82 games as the schedule heads toward a jam-packed lineup on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
With the first half of the season in the books, the basketball community has received a great look at the current rookie class. While Paolo Banchero and Bennedict Mathurin have separated themselves as the top two players, others have had great performances, as well.
Banchero is the overwhelming favorite to win Rookie of the Year with Mathurin behind him in second. It looks to be down to those two players for the annual award, while the race to fill the two All-Rookie teams should be much more competitive.
To make sense of it all, we looked at the best recent performances of these first-year players and ranked them in the latest edition of the Rookie Wire Power Rankings. The rankings are not for Rookie of the Year purposes but, rather, to illustrate the best players week to week.