Trae Young, Kevin Huerter garner All-Rookie honors

Trae Young enjoyed a fantastic debut season and, now, he is officially an All-Rookie first team selection.

The NBA announced its 2018-19 All-Rookie teams on Tuesday, May 21 and, unsurprisingly, the Atlanta Hawks point guard made an appearance in the top five. In fact, Young was a unanimous selection (with 100 first team votes), joining Luka Doncic (also unanimous), Deandre Ayton, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Marvin Bagley III on the first team.

Young was the winner of four NBA Rookie of the Month awards for the Eastern Conference and he appears to be in a two-man race with Doncic for 2018-19 Rookie of the Year honors. In 81 games, the former Oklahoma star averaged 19.1 points and 8.1 assists per game, and Young carried an immense workload while producing strong efficiency (17.0 PER, 53.9 percent true shooting) and impressive clutch performance throughout the campaign.

Elsewhere, Kevin Huerter joined Young in being recognized, landing on the second team. The 20-year-old wing stands alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Mitchell Robinson, Collin Sexton and Landry Shamet on the second team, with Huerter garnering 45 voting points (and a first-place vote) under the league’s system. In 75 games, Huerter averaged 9.7 points per contest on 38.5 percent shooting from three-point range, and the former Maryland standout finished eighth in the 2018 draft class in minutes played.

Well before this announcement, it was clear that the Hawks hit a home run with Young and Huerter, and No. 30 overall pick Omari Spellman also displayed signs of intrigue during his first professional season. It never hurts to see recognition at the highest levels, though, even if there wasn’t much in the way of suspense concerning Young and first-team inclusion.

Stay tuned.