NBA 2018-19 Player Comparisons: Luka Doncic vs Trae Young - Who will win The ROY?

Style of play and overall game

Atlanta Hawks picked up Young at #5

Trae Young

Trae Young has been one of the most electrifying players in the NBA this season and certainly among the best rookies from the 2018 draft class. He came into the NBA with a reputation for being the "Baby Steph".

Known for his 3-point shooting coming out of college, he was not that good coming into the NBA, shooting below 35 per cent from deep over the first four months of the season. Since then, Young has gone back to looking as deadly as he did at Oklahoma, shooting 43.5 per cent from beyond the arc in February.

He is also known for his quickness and one of his more underrated talents - passing. Early in the season, Young showed shades of Nash and has dazzled the NBA and us fans with his highlight reel passes and since the All-Star break, it appears Trae has put his shooting and passing together and becoming a deadly player.

Luka Doncic

Doncic, on the other hand, has been a conundrum for all NBA front offices since his debut in the EuroLeague. He has since matured into one of the most efficient and all-round players in the world. Doncic's scoring is great by itself and is averaging the highest points scored by a rookie since Blake Griffin.

Doncic has been often compared with LeBron James all season long, given his point forward style of play and general high usage rate. But his game is an amalgamation of a lot of stars in the league right now.

He has the passing awareness and commanding presence of LeBron James, the stepback game of James Harden, the efficiency similar to Kevin Durant. He is not an explosive finisher or a big athlete, but his fluid game and scoring ability always ends up drawing a double team.

He has it all in his game and if he had better teammates, maybe his passing vision would have been put on a better display. With the Dallas Mavericks on a slide where they are not winning a lot of games, so Doncic's stock has gone down overall.

Final Verdict:

While Trae has been lighting it up since the All-Star break, you cannot disregard the impact Doncic has had on the Dallas Mavericks since he joined them. He has definitely made them an instant contender if paired with the right stars.

Young has shown an erratic game all season long, with his shooting not being up to the mark at first and only has started to get better, whole Doncic was up and running since the start of the season. Doncic edges Young out here as well for the Rookie of the Year award.