Atlanta Hawks: Best candidates for 2018-19 NBA awards

Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year: Trae Young

If the Hawks exceed expectations by even the slightest degree, it will be because Trae Young turned in a season similar to what he did at the University of Oklahoma (this would also mean that he would have also usurped Lin in the starting lineup).

He’s obviously a Rookie of the Year candidate (Odds Shark gives him the seventh-best odds to take home the Eddie Gottlieb trophy), but if Young becomes the player the Hawks want him to be, there’s a chance he could win the MVP award as well — just not in 2018-19.

If Young were to even sniff MVP votes, he would probably take home Rookie of the Year honors as well. If he actually won both, he’d become only the third player in NBA history — and the first in the post-merger era — to accomplish the feat. The other two were Hall-of-Famers Wes Unseld and Wilt Chamberlain. That’s pretty good company.

Of course, Young would have to put up video game numbers on a playoff Hawks team for that to happen, and the prospect of that taking place are slim, even if there weren’t questions about his play translating to the pros. He probably won’t win ROY either, as players like Luka Doncic and Deandre Ayton stand out as stronger picks.

He might not even begin the year as a starter, which will make winning either award even harder. But if he plays well enough to crack the starting five, Rookie of the Year will be within his grasp even if the MVP award isn’t.