NBA Rookie Of The Year Market Shifts Following Chet Holmgren’s Season-Ending Injury

Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Chet Holmgren will miss the entire 2022-2023 NBA season due to a Lisfranc injury to his right foot. The 2nd overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft sustained the injury in a pro-am event after defending LeBron James on a fast break. Due to his 7’1, 195-pound lanky frame, Holmgren entered the professional ranks with some concerns over his durability and those concerns were instantly and unfortunately validated. 

Despite that, he was one of the Rookie of the Year favorites due to his one-of-a-kind offensive and defensive skill sets for a rookie at his size and length. When news broke about the season-ending nature of the injury, the odds for the award shifted and are now as follows (via FanDuel):

No. 1 overall pick Paolo Banchero is a sizable favorite at +200, which makes sense based on the presumed high-usage role he will have on the Orlando Magic. Then, as you can see, only four more players have odds shorter than +3000: Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey (+500), Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray (+500), Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith (+600) and Indiana Pacers wing Bennedict Mathurin (+1100). 

Based on presumed playing time and usage, I see this market as extremely confined to the aforementioned rookies. Of course injuries or trades can make an impact, but Banchero, Ivey, Murray and Smith in particular have the best outlook in terms of the statistics usually required to win this individual award. 

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