Simmons Favored Over Ingram, Hield on NBA Rookie of Year Odds
Ben Simmons was the first overall pick at the 2016 NBA Draft this past spring, and he’s also listed as the clear betting favorite on the odds to win the 2017 NBA Rookie of the Year award.
Simmons is set as the +300 favorite on the 2017 NBA Rookie of the Year odds after the forward was taken first overall by the Philadelphia 76ers at the draft. The native of Australia, who played last season for the LSU Tigers, averaged 19.2 points per game in his one and only college season in 2015/16 while picking up 11.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists per contest.
If Simmons wins the Rookie of the Year award in the upcoming season he would be the third straight No. 1 draft pick to claim the honor, after Andrew Wiggins in 2015 and Karl-Anthony Towns this past season. No. 1 overall picks have claimed the Rookie of the Year award in four of the past six seasons, including Blake Griffin in 2011 and Kyrie Irving in 2012. Damian Lillard, a No. 6 pick, won in 2013, and Michael Carter-Williams, a No. 11 pick, won in 2014.
The last time a No. 2 pick claimed the NBA Rookie of the Year award was back in 2008 when Kevin Durant was the winner. Brandon Ingram, taken second overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2016 NBA Draft, follows Simmons at +600 on the odds to win the top rookie award in the season ahead. Ingram averaged 17.3 points per game for Duke last season.
New Orleans shooting guard Buddy Hield is third at +650 on the NBA Rookie of the Year odds for 2017, followed by Minnesota Timberwolves guard Kris Dunn at +800. Hield was the sixth overall pick in the draft this past spring, while Dunn went fifth overall. Timberwolves players have claimed this award in each of the past two years, with Wiggins and Towns the winners.
The 76ers’ Joel Embiid then rounds out the top five players on the Rookie of the Year odds list at +1000. Embiid was the third overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, but the center has yet to make his NBA debut thanks to multiple foot surgeries. Embiid has also been ruled out of summer league. In his one season at Kansas Embiid averaged 11.2 points and 8.1 rebounds.
Chicago’s Denzel Valentine (+1400), Denver’s Jamal Murray (+1600), Milwaukee’s Thon Maker (+1600), and Atlanta’s Taurean Prince (+1600) sit behind the top five on the Rookie of the Year props, with Memphis’ Wade Baldwin, Phoenix’s Marquese Chriss, Boston’s Jaylen Brown, Phoenix’s Dragen Bender, and Brooklyn’s Caris LeVert all pegged at +2000 odds.
*Bovada Odds as of July 4, 2016
