NBA Award Watch: Kobe, Oladipo and Nance Jr. headline the honors

Rookie of the Year: Donovan Mitchell

While a few weeks ago, I thought the Rookie of the Year might have been Ben Simmons, there’s another player in the NBA that might be threatening the 76ers’ point guard.

In 31 appearances with the Utah Jazz, 23 of which have been starts, Donovan Mitchell has been averaging 17.7 points on 43 percent shooting from the field and 37 percent shooting from deep.

While the Jazz have lost key pieces in Gordon Hayward — via free agency — and Rudy Gobert — via injury — it seems like Utah has been able to compete for the most part.

Typically when a franchise loses some key pieces like that, they fall apart, but Utah’s still 14-17 and that’s largely thanks to Mitchell. His main competitor to the award, Ben Simmons, has been averaging 17.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game. Simmons may score less than Mitchell on any given night, but can impact the way in different ways.

It’s a two-man race for Rookie of the Year, but I think Mitchell can surely give Simmons a run for his money. Through two months, the lack of surrounding talent for the Jazz, along with Mitchell’s higher scoring gives him the edge.