Cavs’ Mobley atop Rookie Ladder, but Barnes, Cunningham have new life

Mobley’s injury gives Barnes and Cunningham new life; race could be wide open

On Tuesday night, after playing 13 minutes in the Cavaliers win over the Magic, Evan Mobley suffered an ankle injury. He was able to get back to the locker room under his own power, but did not re-enter the game. The good news is that X-rays came back negative, but he’s not quite out of the woods yet. He will miss Wednesday’s game versus the Dallas Mavericks, but that’s all we know for now.

So, how does this affect the Rookie of the Year Award race? While it looked like Mobley would be the runaway winner of the award last week, his injury opens the race up again, as he could miss some more time following the Dallas game, and Cleveland of late is sliding. It really is horrible timing for the Cavs and Mobley himself.

Personally, if I’m the Cavs training staff or front office, I am sitting Mobley down for the rest of the season. The team has looked absolutely exhausted in the past couple of games. On top of that, adjusting without Jarrett Allen was never going to be easy, but with Lauri Markkanen also getting banged up on Monday night, even with him eventually coming back after a knee-to-knee issue, it might be nearly impossible.

Regarding the Rookie of the Year Award, I honestly think it’s back to being wide open, considering Mobley’s injury, of which the team should be cautious about. And per a Cavs release on Wednesday afternoon, Mobley won’t play in the next three games, and we’ll see from there.

In all reality, Evan Mobley should have been given the award at the All-Star break, but that’s not how it works.

His impact on winning, his defensive prowess, and all the traits he showed on offense all appear to point to Mobley being one of the best young big men in the NBA. So I’m here to tell you Cavs fans that even if the NBA gives the award to Barnes or Cunningham, we all know Mobley was the best rookie from start to finish.