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The NBA announced today that Kyrie Irving won this year's NBA Rookie of the Year award. The Kings Isaiah Thomas placed seventh in the voting. Thomas received no first place votes, 6 second place votes, and 10 third place votes.
Although Irving was the expected winner of the award, it is surprising that Thomas finished so low. IT had regularly been debated to place somewhere between second and fourth in voting, in contention with runner-up Ricky Rubio and third place finisher Kenneth Faried. Instead, Thomas was also surpassed by Kawhi Leonard, Iman Shumpert, an Klay Thompson.
Although disappointing, seventh amongst all rookies caps an incredible season for the 60th pick in the draft. "Mr. Irrelevant" earned a role in the Kings starting line-up, finished the season with an average of 11.5 points and 4.1 assist per game, averaging 25.5 minutes per contest. Thomas also won Rookie of the Month honors in February and March. Irving was the only other rookie to win the honor more than once this season.
There is some discussion of the award and voting in Dub_TC's fanshot. A full breakdown of the votes can be found after the jump.
| Rookie, Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
| Kyrie Irving, Cleveland | 117 | 2 | 1 | 592 |
| Ricky Rubio, Minnesota | - | 49 | 12 | 70 |
| Kenneth Faried, Denver | 1 | 30 | 34 | 129 |
| Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio | 1 | 9 | 15 | 47 |
| Iman Shumpert, New York | 1 | 7 | 7 | 33 |
| Klay Thompson, Golden State | - | 5 | 15 | 30 |
| Isaiah Thomas, Sacramento | - | 6 | 10 | 28 |
| Brandon Knight, Detroit | - | 6 | 3 | 21 |
| Chandler Parsons, Houston | - | 3 | 5 | 14 |
| MarShon Brooks, New Jersey | - | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Kemba Walker, Charlotte | - | - | 3 | 3 |
| Josh Selby, Memphis | - | - | 1 | 1 |
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