Donovan Mitchell and Ben Simmons are making strong cases for Rookie of the Year

We’re nearly a third of the way into the NBA season and starting to head into the All-Star break. Everything we think we know about this season is starting to materialize. We know who the best teams are, who our MVP will probably be, who our All-Stars are, and we can make some solid guesses at the playoff picture.

But we’re still nowhere close to knowing who our Rookie of the Year will be.

This is one of the greatest rookie races of all time. Donovan Mitchell dropped his second 40 point game of the season on Friday night while Ben Simmons dropped a cool 20 point, six rebound, and five assist stat line against the Heat. We’re literally talking about him as an All-Star snub.

And those are just the top two players in the race. We’ve still got to include Jayson Tatum, Kyle Kuzma, and Lauri Markkanen in the conversation — they’ve all made their marks on the league, too.

This race is crazy and every one of those players has a legitimate case for the award. We’ll spell each one out for you.

Simmons is having an unprecedented rookie season. He’s put up numbers we’ve rarely seen from not only rookies but some of the best veterans, too.

The 76ers’ super-sized point guard is drawing Magic Johnson comparisons because of his size and position, but the production matches up, too. Simmons already has five triple doubles this season, which is the most since Johnson had seven in 1979-80. And he’ll probably break that record by the time the season is done.

But let’s forget about triple doubles for a second. Simmons is averaging 16.8 points, 7.7 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game. On the surface those numbers are impressive for any player, let alone a rookie. But they get even more impressive when you realize Magic Johnson was the last rookie to put those kind of numbers up.

And just looking past the stats, Simmons might be the biggest difference in the 76ers’ success this season. Obviously, having Joel Embiid healthy helps — but the Sixers are right in the mix for a playoff spot and could end up with a homecourt slot this season after being one of the worst teams in the league for the last five years. It’s no wonder Simmons has been leading the Rookie of the Year race for most of the season.

But if Mitchell doesn’t have his spot right now, he’s certainly breathing down his neck for it.

Mitchell has been the go-to scoring option for the Jazz this season despite myriad injuries plaguing his teammates including Rudy Gobert. He’s been a beacon of consistency for a team that just hasn’t had any this season. His future is bright in Utah.

He dropped his second 40-point game of the season against the Suns on Friday night. He’s the first rookie in eight years to have a 40 point game and the first one in that same span to have more than one. Blake Griffin was the last to do it.

His 19.7 points per game leads rookies in scoring this season and he’s the first rookie since Griffin in 2010-11 to average at least 19.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. And of all the rookies to do that, he’s the first one since Mitch Richmond in 1988-89 to shoot at least 35 percent from three. Talk about keeping great company.

Tatum has slowed down considerably since starting the season shooting 51 percent from three, but even a step back for him is two or three steps above what most other rookies are doing. Tatum is shooting 43.6 percent from deep this season and, while that isn’t leading the league, it’s still impressive.

What he has managed to do already early in his career is carve out a niche for himself as the linchpin that makes their offense click. Without his shooting consistency Boston struggles to score. When Tatum is on the court for the Celtics, he’s got a 7.9 net rating, which is only third behind Aaron Baynes and Al Horford. Their offensive rating as a team is 106.7. When he’s off the court, that drops to 101.5.

Tatum is shooting 33 percent from deep since Dec. 11, but this is just him hitting a rookie wall with his jump shot. When he bounces back, watch out.

The Lakers have been a bit disappointing so far this season and slightly less fun than anticipated, but that’s not because of a lack of effort on Kuzma’s part. He’s averaging 16.0 points per game as a rookie which puts him behind only Mitchell and Simmons in scoring.

When he’s played he’s been a solid scoring option for the Lakers and has made history for them a couple times this season, becoming the first rookie in Lakers history to score at least 25 points in three consecutive games since Jerry West. Breaking Lakers records automatically gets you on the Rookie of the Year list.

Kuzma is a dark horse candidate at this point, but that doesn’t make his season any less impressive. The Lakers’ future is truly bright.

The Bulls have had a few good stretches this season and Markkanen is at the center of them. He didn’t even do pre-draft workouts in Chicago, but he’s managed to erase any doubts Bulls fans had about him and his potential with his play this season.

He’s only shooting 36.5 percent from deep, but he’ll probably go down as the best three point shooter in this draft class. It only took him 41 games to hit 100 three pointers in his career — some veterans can’t even sniff that. And he’s doing all of this as a 7-footer.

Markannen truly has the goods. He won’t win Rookie of the Year, but he’ll go down as one of the best players in this draft class.

It’s safe to say Simmons and Mitchell are in the lead right now, but it’s also safe to say we have no clue how this race — that didn’t feel like a race in December — will end. The NBA is in great hands with all of these players. The future of the league is as bright as it’s ever been.