Jaylen Wells (right) and Stephon Castle appear to be in a neck-and-neck race for the Kia Rookie of the Year.
Two conferences, four months, eight winners. If you’re a cup half-full type, you’ll see the variety of winners in the NBA’s monthly rookie awards as a good thing, suggesting a range of first-year talents capable of showing out as their teams’ needs require.
If you’re a half-empty soul, you’ll probably focus on the fact that none of the new guys has asserted himself enough to even win the award twice.
Last season, four rookies – Miami’s Jaime Jaquez Jr., Charlotte’s Brandon Miller, Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren and San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama – all were repeat winners and divvied up all 10 honors across the 2023-24 season.
This year, eight different winners have popped up and then dipped down like some Whack-A-Rookie arcade game.
The East winner for February was Atlanta’s Zaccharie Risacher, the No. 1 overall pick. The honor comes after Philadelphia’s Jared McCain, Washington’s Alex Sarr and Miami’s Kel’el Ware had snagged it previously.
Utah’s Isaiah Collier was best in the West, on the heels of Jaylen Wells, Yves Missi and Stephon Castle earning the first three awards.
Here is the latest edition of the Kia Rookie Ladder, with its ever-fluid rankings of the Class of 2024:
• Collier didn’t like waiting in June until pick No. 29 to learn of his immediate NBA future. But it might help explain his rising star now. Utah teammate Cody Williams said of the sturdy guard: “He’s playing the game with a chip on his shoulder … He knows that there weren’t 28 players better than him in the draft.”
• If, like Philadelphia’s McCain, your first NBA season got curtailed by season-ending surgery, spoiling a possible Rookie of the Year campaign, you might want to do something like this to keep on learning.
• The Orlando Magic’s run of good news/bad news has impacted rookie Tristan da Silva. They have better health in the frontcourt, but a 2-5 record since the All-Star break has seen the rookie skid, too. Da Silva averaged just 14.3 minutes, 4.0 points and 1.8 rebounds during Orlando’s 0-4 week.
• Did you notice Reed Sheppard’s line at OKC Monday, when he scored 25 points with five assists, three 3-pointers, and three “stocks” (blocks plus steals)? He is the first rookie in NBA history to hit all those marks in his first career start.
Five weeks to go. The battle at the top of the Ladder, and thus for Rookie of the Year supremacy, will demand fans’ attention – at least in San Antonio and Memphis, anyway. Stephon Castle and Jaylen Wells could just as easily be listed as 1 and 1A, and in either order, with a bit more than a month remaining. One edge for Castle to this point: He ranks No. 1 in usage (24.2%) among all rookies who have appeared in at least 30 games, his role with the Spurs asking a far amount from him. Wells currently is 14th (16.0%), starting but filling a more narrowly defined role for the Grizzlies.
(All stats through Tuesday, March 4)
1. Stephon Castle, San Antonio Spurs
Season stats: 13.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.5 apg
Last Ladder: 1
Draft pick: No. 4
Castle shook off his Pelicans slump by scoring 95 points with 12 boards and 21 assists in his past four games. That includes 32 against OKC’s defense, Castle’s second 30+ scoring night in five weeks. He shot 50% (37 of 74) in the hot stretch, too.
2. Jaylen Wells, Memphis Grizzlies
Season stats: 11.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.7 apg
Last Ladder: 2
Draft pick: No. 39
Mr. Consistency of the Class of 2024 keeps plugging along, scoring in double figures in six of his past eight games. His most obvious edges over Castle as the ROY chase continues: Wells is starting and his team is winning, though that’s not traditionally given much weight in evaluating rookies.
3. Zach Edey, Memphis Grizzlies
Season stats: 9.4 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 1.2 bpg
Last Ladder: 3
Draft pick: No. 9
The big guy has impact at both ends but has found himself to be a situational player at times. Losing games has limited his court time – Edey ranks 20th in total fourth-quarter minutes among rookies, and his defensive efficiency soars to 117.3 (109.6 overall).
4. Kel’el Ware, Miami Heat
Season stats: 8.7 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 1.1 bpg
Last Ladder 4
Draft pick: No. 15
Ware had been in an alternating single-double mode, switching from 10+ points to 10+ rebounds in four straight games. He was listed out (knee) to face Cleveland Wednesday.
5. Zaccharie Risacher, Atlanta Hawks
Season stats: 11.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.3 apg
Last Ladder: 6
Draft pick: No. 1
The top pick in June pops back into the Top 5 with his award as the East’s best rookie in February. And that doesn’t even include the 27 points he dropped on Memphis Monday, shooting 11-of-13 in the Hawks’ narrow victory.
6. Isaiah Collier, Utah Jazz
Season stats: 7.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 6.1 apg
Last Ladder: 7
Draft pick: No. 29
Collier’s 123 assists in February were not only the most by a rookie in a single month since Minnesota’s Pooh Richardson in March 1990, as dug up by The Athletic. His turnovers dropped from 49 in January to 44 even as his usage ticked up.
7. Yves Missi, New Orleans Pelicans
Season stats: 8.6 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.4 bpg
Last Ladder: 5
Draft pick: No. 21
Playing alongside Kelly Olynyk in a two-big lineup has meant some adjusting. Missi has grabbed just 14 rebounds in his past three games.
8. Bub Carrington, Washington Wizards
Tops all rookies in court time (29.4 mpg) and ranks second in assists, with 13 games so far in which he’s had 5+ assists with one or fewer turnovers.
Season stats: 9.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 4.0 apg
Last Ladder: 8
Draft pick: No. 14
9. Alex Sarr, Washington Wizards
Season stats: 11.6 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.5 bpg
Last Ladder: 9
Draft pick: No. 2
Momentum has fizzled as the East’s top rookie in January has played in just four games since due to injury.
10. Kyle Filipowski, Utah Jazz
Season stats: 7.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.0 apg
Last Ladder: Not ranked
Draft pick: No. 32
Edged out Portland’s Donovan Clingan with his best week yet (14.8 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 3.3 apg, 50% FG), though he lugged a minus-20 in Jazz’s 1-3 week.
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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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