The short answer is, probably not, but let's have some fun.
Luka Doncic has had a firm grip on the Rookie of the Year award basically from opening night, with a spectacular freshman campaign in the NBA.
And while the Mavericks guard continues to impress, in the shadows, Atlanta Hawks playmaker Trae Young has quietly been weaving his magic, making him the only rookie with a case to rival the feats of Doncic.
In Thursday's 131-123 win over the Minnesota TImberwolves, Young poured in a career-high 36 points, following his 36-point effort the game prior agianst the Houston Rockets, becoming the first rookie since Allen Iverson to record back-to-back 35-point, 5+ assist games.
Trae Young finished with 35+ PTS and 5+ AST in consecutive games. Since the 1976-77 season, Young is the third rookie with consecutive games of at least 35 PTS and 5 AST. The other two:
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) February 28, 2019
Allen Iverson
Michael Jordan pic.twitter.com/iTajNwaVW2
If the first half of the season belonged to Doncic, the stretch run has Young's fingerprints all over it.
After a sluggish start to the season shooting the ball, Young has found his groove at the head of Atlanta's offence and in the month of February, he is averaging 23.3 points per game, 9.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds, shooting the ball at a sizzling 43.7% from three and 41% from the field. In that same span, he's recorded three of his five 30+ points games.
I mean, just look at this ridiculous stretch over the past 15 games.
Trae Young's last 15 games:
— Kevin Chouinard (@KLChouinard) February 28, 2019
30 pts / 8 ast
26 pts / 8 ast
23 pts / 8 ast
28 pts / 9 ast
27 pts / 8 ast
10 pts / 10 ast
19 pts / 5 ast
20 pts / 11 ast
13 pts / 7 ast
22 pts / 14 ast
16 pts / 11 ast
30 pts / 10 ast
23 pts / 8 ast
36 pts / 8 ast
36 pts / 10 ast
While Doncic has made his appearance in basically every nightly top 10 highlight reel, Young hasn't been short on providing spectacular plays himself.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
Exhibit C:
Sure there's a little recency bias here, but Young's phenomenal play can't be ignored.
I mean just look at these disrespectful threes he hurled at the Rockets.
Sheesh.
Trae Young, meet world. World, meet Trae Young.@TheTraeYoung goes for an unconscious career-high of 3⃣6⃣ points and going 8⃣ of 1⃣2⃣ from three.#TrueToAtlanta x #KeepThatSameEnergy
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 26, 2019
🎥⤵️ pic.twitter.com/h80Bol6Tcy
While Young has been on fire of late, Doncic's hallmark this season has been consistency. He's been awesome pretty much every night he's stepped out on the floor and if Young's February stretch is impressive, Doncic's has been much the same.
The 20-year-old averaged 24.4 points per game, 9.4 rebounds and 7.4 assists last month and is showing no signs of slowing down.
The ROY award is very much still Luka's to lose, but man, Trae Young is making things interesting.
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