Rachel Nichols Talks NBA Rookie of the Year Contenders Luka Doncic & Trae Young

All right, Rachel, NBA Awards. Yes. A lot of hot debates going on. Who do you have for MVP and why?

Uh, Giannis Antetokounmpo, I believe is going to win. And I think that for two reasons. I think that because he had the best season, regular season this year. I also think that because he's here. And James Harden is in China. So I don't I don't think the NBA told them in advance, I really don't, but I think that sometimes you can just see the way. See the way the wind is blowing. And there you go. That way, apparently. Toward Greece. By way of Milwaukee.

Uh, rookie of the year, Trey Young, Luka Doncic. Yeah. I think Luka Doncic probably is going to get it because of his like full year, but Trey Young had a great second half of the season. How do you think he handled the pressure and the hype surrounding him?

Yeah, a ton. He was fantastic. And look, I think he learned some pretty valuable lessons in college. He had a college career that was super hyped at the beginning, and then a lot of defenses started keying on him, which is what happens when you're good. And then all of a sudden people are like, "Man, what happened to Trey Young? He used to be good." So if you've been through that cycle, I think it actually prepared him for his rookie year. So there are people like, "Oh, Trey Young." And he was like, "Just wait." And in fact, he had a great second half of the season.

And I know you're you're a big fan of Donovan Mitchell as well. So going into his third year. Yeah. Improvement. What do you think?

Donovan will be the first person to tell you that his second year was a little sophomore year was a little bit of a shock, right? It was like, "Oh, wait. This isn't quite the same." Everyone knew he was coming this time. And he had to kind of keep the team together in a different way. He got advice from a lot of the older players in the league, and I think he's going to put all that to work this year.

All right, thank you so much.