(Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
When it comes to incoming NBA rookies, most of the attention is focused on Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-3 wunderkind from France who is considered one of the greatest prospects in basketball history and perhaps in the history of all team sports.
But he is overshadowing an extremely good prospect in his own right — guard Scoot Henderson of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Henderson was the No. 3 pick in June’s draft, and with Damian Lillard seemingly on his way out, he appears to be set to replace him as Portland’s floor general and perhaps their franchise player.
He said that he has a huge goal for his rookie season — win the Rookie of the Year award, via League Alerts on Twitter.
Scoot Henderson aims for the rookie of the year
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Per: @playmaker pic.twitter.com/3hO2QPw4kx
— League Alerts (@LeagueAlerts) August 7, 2023
Henderson cannot only score and distribute the basketball, but he has a tremendous amount of athleticism and explosiveness.
In fact, he has been compared to Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook, who may have been the two most athletic points guards in league history.
He spent the last two seasons with the G League Ignite in lieu of attending college, and he averaged 17.6 points, 6.4 assists, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.2 steals a game this past season.
In an exhibition game versus Wembanyama’s Metropolitans 92 in October 2022, Henderson put up 28 points and nine assists.
In Portland, he will join rising standout Anfernee Simons and forward Jerami Grant to give the team a nice young core to build around.
Despite the presence and outstanding play of Lillard over the last 11 seasons, the Blazers have reached the Western Conference Finals just once and have missed the playoffs in both of the last two years.
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