Chicago Bulls rookie guard Ayo Dosunmu is sitting just outside the top 10 in WynnBET’s NBA Rookie of the Year odds, but don’t expect him to deliver as a dark horse candidate.
Dosunmu, the No. 38 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, had a fantastic junior season at the University of Illinois, but his Rookie of the Year odds (above lottery picks Moses Moody, Chris Duarte, Joshua Primo and Ziaire Williams) are far too high at +2500.
Dosunmu averaged 20.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game last season at Illinois as the team’s No. 1 option, but he will be stepping into a Bulls team that may not even have a rotation spot for him.
After signing Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball, the Bulls have a deep rotation at guard/small forward that also will include Coby White, Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan. If Dosunmu is good enough to crack that group, it may not be enough minutes a night for him to even warrant Rookie of the Year consideration.
Taking into account all of the money that the Bull dished out for Ball (four years, $85 million), Caruso (four years, $37 million) and DeRozan (three years, $85 million), it’s hard to see Billy Donovan turning to a rookie unless he has to due to injury.
NBA investigating Heat, Bulls for tampering in Kyle Lowry and Lonzo Ball deals ?https://t.co/HVRN7DggDT
— FanSided (@FanSided) August 8, 2021
The Bulls are clearly in win-now mode, and rightfully so with LaVine in the last year of his deal, but there are several better values than Dosunmu on the odds list, such as Duarte (+3000), who projects to have an immediate role from day one after the Indiana Pacers lost sharpshooter Doug McDermott in free agency.
If Dosunmu were to win Rookie of the Year, he’d be making history, as Malcolm Brogdon (36th overall) is the latest draft pick to ever Rookie of the Year.
This isn’t to say that the Illinois product can’t have a solid career, but when looking at Rookie of the Year odds you need two things: opportunity and production. The former has to come for the latter to exist, and Dosunmu won’t have a clear path to minutes unless he outplays one of the Bulls’ major signings or Chicago suffers a rash of injuries that forces him into the lineup.
Bulls get a pick a lot of fans were looking for in Ayo Dosunmu. https://t.co/ycBRQrlbb6
— Pippen Ain't Easy (@BullsBeatBlog) July 30, 2021
That’s a hard sell, even at +2500 odds, so I’m going to pass on the Ayo hype until there’s a reason to warrant his odds being as high as they are now.
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