Vegas just released the odds for the 2018-2019 Rookie Of The Year. The crop of talent among this pool of players really makes this race anyone’s to win.

Credit NBCsports.com

Ayton barely nudged out Doncic and Bagley. While this draft class is deep, the cream rises to the top, meaning one of those three players are probably going to win it. That being said, there always is a dark horse candidate looming.

Let’s take look at early Rookie Of The Year odds from each of the last five years. This will give us insight into what we should expect a year from now when a new Rookie Of The Year is crowned.

***These are preseason odds***

2017-2018 ROY Odds

So if you weren’t watching the NBA Awards yesterday, surprise, Ben Simmons won rookie of the year. If you look below you will see he had the best odds of winning the award. Interesting that the number one pick in Markelle Fultz was out of the top 8. It’s like Vegas predicted he would struggle at first.

Credit- Espn.com

If you want to read a great review of the 2017 Offseason click Here.

2016-2017 ROY Odds

Wow, Malcolm Brogdon out of left field. Brogdon was taken 36th overall so he didn’t even have odds to win the award. Although this was definitely a star-studded class. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were injured. Also, Jamal Murray, Jaylen Brown and Dario Saric were still developing their games so it makes sense that they didn’t win.

Credit- Sportsoddshistory.com

If you enjoy following rookies read this piece on Luka Doncic Here.

2015-2016 ROY Odds

Towns had the 6th best odds to win Rookie Of The Year. I’m sure Vegas wants to get back these picks. Emmanuel Mudiay and Jahlil Okafor should have been way down in hindsight. Look way down the list and you’ll see Devin Booker. Past players like Hezonja and Bjelica.

Credit- Sportsoddshistory.com

2014-2015 ROY Odds

Andrew Wiggins had the fourth best chances to win rookie of the year so it didn’t come out of nowhere. This guy was killing it after his rookie year and had all the promise in the world. Unfortunately, he has not gotten much better since that season. That is a problem.

Credit- Sportsoddshistory.com

2013-2014 ROY Odds

So five years later. Victor Oladipo is the newly anointed Most Improved Player in the NBA. Michael Carter-Williams is, um, playing for the Hornets? He is the first player I’ve ever seen get progressively worse after his first season. Pretty consistently I might add.

Credit- Sportsoddshistory.com

Here’s a great player profile on Victor Oladipo Here

What This Means

Vegas’s pick won rookie of the year once(Ben Simmons). Every other year it was a guy with top 10 odds except for the 2016-2017 season where Malcom Brogdon won. He was so unlikely he didn’t have odds.

It’s hard to feel good about the Rookie of The Year award after looking at these results. Michael Carter-Williams, Andrew Wiggins and Malcolm Brogdon haven’t developed into the stars they were projected to be by experts after their rookie seasons. Either way, it will be fun to watch Doncic, Ayton and Bagley among others, fight it out to see who will win the award.

For any gamblers out there, I would advice you to proceed with caution if you are thinking about betting this years odds. Unless you hedge by betting on every player in the top 10 you probably won’t be cashing in a year from now.

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