Oklahoma State With Two Former Players up for End-of-Season NBA Awards
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State men’s basketball has an opportunity to expand its history a bit in the next few months. Two of the most successful players in program history, Cade Cunningham and Marcus Smart, are up for two of the end-of-the-season NBA Awards.
While there isn’t an official time and date yet, the NBA Awards ceremony has been held in June two out of the last three years. 2020 was held in September due to COVID.
By the end of the 2021-22 season, Cunningham led the rookie class in scoring and was in the top three in most categories, especially when it comes to the three up for RoY. So, the stats below will just be Cunningham compared to Scottie Barnes and Evan Mobley.
He was third in minutes with 32.6 a game, but led in scoring with 17.4 points a game, averaging 6.7 makes a game. He was third in field goal percentage at 41.6% a game but led with 31.4% shooting from the three-point line and was second in free thow percentage with 84.5%. He also averaged 5.5 rebounds a game and 5.6 assists a game.
You can see the complete rookie stat sheet here.
As for Smart, he’s considered by many national writers and publications to be the logical choice for DPoY.
He’s played in 71 games this season and is averaged 12.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game. Here’s the link to Smart’s defensive stats following the conclusion of the regular season.
Smart was drafted by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. He made the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 2015 and has made the NBA All-Defensive First Team twice in his career, 2019 and 2020. He also earned the NBA Hustle Award following the 2019 season.
Both Cunningham and Smart had similar career paths leading to the NBA. They were both McDonald’s All-Americans, Smart was Texas Mr. Basketball and Cunningham Mr. Basketball USA. Both were named the Big 12 Freshman and Player of the Year, and both were drafted in the first round of their respective drafts. Now, they’re both up for end-of-the-year NBA Awards. Pretty cool for Oklahoma State.