Paolo Banchero of the Orlando Magic has officially won the NBA's 2023 Rookie of The Year Award.
(AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
It is not too surprising that Banchero won this award considering he was drafted #1 overall in last years draft. He easily won the voting for this award, getting 98 out of the 100 first-place votes.
The other main candidates for the award were Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Walker Kessler of the Utah Jazz.
Paolo Banchero is now the 3rd Orlando Magic player to win the award.
(The others being Shaquille O’Neal in 1993 and Mike Miller in 2001.)
Banchero led all Rookies in scoring this season, while also having pretty good other stats.
Banchero's Stats This Season:
20 Points
6.9 Rebounds
3.7 Assists
42.7% of shots made
Paolo is a pretty good player overall. The main thing that he needs to work on is his 3-point shooting. This season he only shot 29.8% from 3. (including somehow only making 3% of his 3's in the month of February 😬)
The Orlando Magic also ended the season with the 5th worst record in the league, so we'll see if next year Paolo can help lead the team to the playoffs.