Golden State Warriors' guard Brandin Podziemski has been rewarded for his impressive first season, having been named to the NBA's All-Rookie First Team on Monday.
The 21-year-old was seen as being on the edge of the First or Second Team, but ultimately received the fifth-most points to be named alongside Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren, Brandin Miller and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Brandin Podziemski was picked to the First Team, but fellow Golden State Warriors' rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis missed out on selection
Podziemski received 64 First-Team votes and 33 Second-Team votes, having ranked in the top 10 among rookies in a number of statistical categories. The 19th overall pick had the second best net rating of any rookie to play at least 15 games this season, ranked third in total rebounds, fourth in assists and eighth in scoring, while his 38.5% from three-point range was second among rookies with at least 150 attempts from beyond the arc.
While the voting gap between Podziemski and the sixth-ranked Dereck Lively II was 42 points, the same margin couldn't be said for fellow Warrior rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis who narrowly missed the Second-Team by just one one point.
Jackson-Davis received 42 Second-Team votes, nine more than Memphis Grizzlies' forward GG Jackson. However, the latter also received five First-Team votes to catapult him into the final spot on the Second-Team alongside Lively, Amen Thompson, Keyonte George and Cason Wallace.
The 24-year-old exploded into a more consistent role in the second half of the season, but perhaps left his run a fraction late to solidify a Second-Team spot. Jackson-Davis averaged 6.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.8 blocks in his first 40 games, yet those numbers grew to 10.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.6 blocks in his final 28 games from February 22 onwards.
Both Golden State rookies earned an opportunity in the starting lineup over the second half of the season. Podziemski briefly supplanted franchise legend Klay Thompson for 14 games in an 18-game span, while the team went 9-2 in 11 games with Jackson-Davis as the starting center to close the regular season.
Podziemski has become the first Warrior to be named to the All-Rookie First Team since Eric Paschall in 2020, while current teammates Thompson (2012) and Stephen Curry (2010) were also also named to the All-Rookie First Team more than a decade ago.
