Despite being selected third in the 2026 NBA Draft, Memphis Grizzlies forward Cameron Boozer is the opening favorite in Rookie of the Year odds.
Boozer, the 2026 NCAA Player of the Year and a consensus first-team All-American, has an implied 29.4% chance to win the award, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
Key Takeaways
- The last player to win the Rookie of the Year after being drafted third overall was LaMelo Ball in 2021.
- Four of the last nine (44.4%) ROTY winners were taken first overall.
- The Washington Wizards have the best Finals odds (+12,000) of teams with a top ROTY candidate.
Boozer is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his Duke predecessor, Cooper Flagg, a fellow forward who went to the NBA after one year of college and won the Rookie of the Year award.
The son of 13-year NBA veteran Carlos Boozer leads FanDuel’s odds board at +240. Just behind him are the top two picks in the draft, Washington Wizards guard AJ Dybantsa (BYU) and Utah Jazz guard Darryn Peterson (Kansas), both at +400.
Dybantsa, also a consensus first-team All-American, led the NCAA in scoring last year and was the first player taken in the draft. Peterson was a second-team All Big 12 member, whose only college season was mired by severe cramping and missing 21.4% of his games.
Dybantsa and Peterson’s +400 odds to win NBA Rookie of the Year carry 20% implied probability each.
The final player who is within close proximity of the leaders is Sacramento Kings guard Darius Acuff Jr. (Arkansas), who was taken seventh during Tuesday’s event. Another consensus first-team All-American, Acuff Jr. was one of the most outstanding players in March Madness, during which he averaged an efficient 29.3 points and 5.3 assists across three games.
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NBA Rookie of the Year challengers and trends
According to FanDuel, there are two standout players — Chicago Bulls forward Caleb Wilson (North Carolina) and Brooklyn Nets guard Mikel Brown Jr. (Louisville) — who are chasing the leaders.
Wilson, the fourth pick and another consensus first-team All-American, is +950 in NBA Rookie of the Year odds. Brown Jr., a third-team All-ACC performer, is +1,500 (6.3% chance) in odds.
Four of the last nine Rookie of the Year winners were selected with the first pick in the draft. If that trend continues, Dybantsa has nearly a coin flip’s chance of claiming the hardware.
During that same nine-year period, no players drafted lower than fourth overall won the Rookie of the Year honor. That would theoretically eliminate all players not named Dybantsa, Peterson, Boozer, or Wilson.
The one outlier in recent history occurred in 2017, when second-round and 36th-overall selection Malcolm Brogdon was named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year, despite a mundane 10.2-point, 4.2-assist, 2.8-rebound stat line. The 36th pick in this year’s draft was Cincinnati forward Baba Miller, now of the Los Angeles Clippers.
NBA Finals odds lookahead
While NBA Finals odds are not available on FanDuel at the time of writing, the other top online sportsbooks have theirs published.
According to DraftKings, none of the teams with a perceived top candidate to win the award have better odds to win the Finals than the Wizards (+12,000). The Jazz (+18,000) are the next team in line, followed by the Nets (+25,000), Grizzlies (+50,000), Bulls (+70,000), and Kings (+100,000).
The Wizards’ Finals odds are tied for 22nd in the league.
