NBA 75: Players who starred as rookies & sophomores

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (left) and Wilt Chamberlain both amassed many accolades early in their respective NBA careers.

On Friday night in Cleveland, the league’s top young talent takes center stage in the Clorox Rising Stars (9 ET, TNT). In a new format, 28 players — comprised of 12 rookies, 12 sophomore and four members of the NBA G League Ignite developmental squad — have been drafted into four teams to compete in three games, with a final target score of 75 to commemorate the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Season.

Before we get a chance to marvel on Friday at no-look alley-oop passes from LaMelo Ball, a poster dunk from Anthony Edwards, a smooth jumper from Cade Cunningham or a monster block from Evan Mobley, let’s take a moment to appreciate the best rookie and sophomore seasons in NBA history from the members of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team.

For the seven rookies profiled below, being named Rookie of the Year was just a small piece in their first-year resumes.

Wilt Chamberlain (1959-60) and Wes Unseld (1968-69) are the only two players to ever be named Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year in the same season. That feat has only happened once in the NFL (Jim Brown in 1957) and twice in the MLB (Fred Lynn in 1975 and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001; however, the MLB awards MVPs for both the National and American Leagues rather than having a single winner). Candace Parker is the only WNBA player to accomplish this double, back in 2008.

Of the seven rookies below Magic Johnson is the only one to not win Rookie of the Year honors — that went to his longtime rival, Larry Bird. However, Magic does hold the distinction as the only rookie in NBA history to be named Finals MVP after he stepped in for an injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to help the Lakers close out the 1980 NBA Finals.

Each of these seven rookies was named an All-Star in their first season, with three winning All-Star MVP honors — Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Oscar Robertson — and remain the only rookies to accomplish the feat in NBA history.

The seven sophomores featured include three regular season MVP winners – Bill Russell (1957-58, his first of five MVPs), Larry Bird (1980-81, his first of 3 MVPs) and Bob Pettit (1955-56, his first of two MVPs) – and one Finals MVP winner in Tim Duncan (1998-99,
his first of three Finals MVPs).

Bob McAdoo won his first of three straight NBA scoring titles in his sophomore season of 1973-74. Pettit won his first scoring title and only rebounding title in his sophomore season. Russell won his first of four rebounding titles in his second NBA season.

The players that were honored on the NBA’s 75th anniversary team established their greatness early in the respective careers. Which of this year’s Rising Stars is laying the foundation for their selection of the next major anniversary team?