There’s always that one! Or two, as in the case with Paige Bueckers and the 2025 Rookie Of The Year award.
What I’m referring to are the two voters who prevented a unanimous award winner because they somehow convinced themselves to believe something that 97% of their peers don’t think.
I’m not taking anything away from Sonia Citron and her impressive rookie season, but Paige finished her season with the third most points (692) and assists (194) in WNBA rookie history. Her 44-point masterclass last month broke the previous WNBA rookie record (shared by her and Caitlin Clark) by 9 points, and she did it on 81% shooting!
Paige is also just one of two rookies (Clark being the other) in WNBA history to ever record 500+ points, 150+ assists, 100+ rebounds, and 50+ steals in a season.
Can you imagine accomplishing these things and not being the Rookie Of The Year? Well, for two people, those numbers weren’t enough.
4 minutes of Paige Bueckers bag work👀
(via @pitlessball) pic.twitter.com/jB7JFpkuNP https://t.co/m8EkUwx4IK
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) September 16, 2025
This incident reminded me of a couple of other almost unanimous award winners.
SHAQUILLE O’NEAL – MVP (1999/2000)
“He destroyed history being a b***h.”
That’s what Shaq had to say about the late Fred Hickman when asked if he remembers who was the single voter out of 121 that didn’t think he deserved the 2000 NBA MVP award.
“Fred Idiot Hickman,” O’Neal said on a 2019 episode of FAIR GAME. “I hate him. I don’t need to talk to him. There’s nothing to apologize about. Because he destroyed history being a b***h. “He messed up history. And then a couple of years later, he’s going to give Steph Curry unanimous? I love Steph. Steph’s my favorite guy. He knows that. But c’mon.”
The following is the reason why the CNN sports journalist picked The Answer over The Diesel:
“I picked the guy who was the most valuable to his team. Philadelphia without Allen Iverson was a CBA team, and if the Lakers didn’t have Shaq, they would have still been a pretty good team.”
I get what he’s saying. But you can’t vote for a guy who made a “CBA team” into the team that finished 3rd in their division over the guy who just had one of the best seasons in NBA history and made his team nearly unbeatable. The 67 wins were two short of the franchise record, and they went on to win the first of three straight championships.
The other problem is that it’s not like Hickman gave his 1st place vote to the runner-up winner (Kevin Garnett). Or even the 3rd (Alonzo Mourning) or 4th (Karl Malone) place player. Iverson finished 7th in MVP voting (Tim Duncan and Gary Payton were 5th and 6th).
Fred’s response was it’s not like he voted for a backup center that averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds that season.
“Thoughtfully, and I would do it again. But why anyone has a problem with me, I don’t get it. I can sleep with my decision. If I’d voted for Chris Anstey, I could understand the reaction.”
Here are some other reactions to Hickman preventing Shaq from becoming the first unanimous MVP winner.
- Jerry West: “God, I feel sorry for the one guy who didn’t vote for him.”
- Marques Johnson: “What happened? Some of Iverson’s boys must have had his daughter tied up in a Brooklyn basement; there was some extortion going on?
- Jack Haley: “For Fred Hickman not to vote for Shaq is one of two things: either a publicity stunt or total ignorance for the game of basketball.”
LEBRON JAMES – MVP (2012/2013)
Like Shaq, LeBron was cheated out of becoming the first unanimous MVP winner because of a single person. That person must have still been upset that LeBron won Rookie Of The Year over Carmelo Anthony because he gave Melo his 1st place vote. Or maybe he was having LeBron MVP fatigue since the Heat superstar won two of the last three.
That person is the Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn, and his reasoning sounded a lot like Hickman:
“If you were to take Anthony off the Knicks, they are a lottery team. James plays with two other All-Stars, the league’s all-time 3-point leader, a defensive stalwart, and a fearless point guard. The Heat are loaded. If LeBron was taken away from the Heat, they still would be a fifth or sixth seed. He is the best player of this generation, a multifaceted superstar with the physical prowess of Adonis, but I chose to reward a player who has lifted his team to new heights.
“I voted for Carmelo based on his importance to the New York Knicks, who, if you haven’t been paying attention the past decade, have failed to be relevant. When the voting was announced, I was flabbergasted to learn I was the lone voter among 121 to not give LeBron a first-place vote, truly believing Anthony, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, and perhaps even Kobe Bryant would snag a first-place vote or two.”
Melo was appreciative of the vote but agreed LeBron deserved it.
“I will take a first place vote,” Anthony said. “As far as MVP, LeBron gets it. I take my hat off to him. He had a hell of a year.”
This is what LeBron and the Heat did that season:
- 26.8 PTS (Career high 57% FG), 8 REB, 7.3 AST, 1.7 STL
- All-Defensive 1st Team and 2nd in Defensive Player Of The Year (Marc Gasol won it)
- Franchise-best 67 wins
- 27-game win streak (3rd longest in NBA history)
CAITLIN CLARK – ROOKIE OF THE YEAR (2024)
62 WNBA records as a rookie?
Clark didn’t just have one of the greatest WNBA rookie seasons ever; she had one of the greatest WNBA regular seasons ever. Yet, the following was not enough for the single voter out of 67 who gave her vote to Angel Reese.
- MOST AST IN A SEASON
Caitlin Clark: 337
Alyssa Thomas: 316 - MOST 3PTS IN A SEASON
Sabrina Ionescu: 128
Caitlin Clark: 122 - MOST CAREER 25 PTS/10 AST GAMES
Caitlin Clark: 5 (40 GMS)
Sabrina Ionescu: 5 (141 GMS) - MOST AST IN A GAME
Caitlin Clark: 19
Courtney Vandersloot: 18 - MOST PTS BY A ROOKIE
Caitlin Clark: 769
Seimone Augustus: 744 - MOST TRIPLE DOUBLES BY A ROOKIE
Caitlin Clark: 2
Everyone else: 0
Andraya Carter & Chiney Ogwumike feels Caitlin Clark should’ve been UNANIMOUS ROTY
“Coming off of Olympic break Caitlin Clark separated herself, to do that as a rookie in the face of that much defensive pressure should’ve been unanimous”#WNBA #FeverRising pic.twitter.com/tsHqlfCLyq
— AK (@Sudharsan_AK10) October 5, 2024
ESPN’s Andraya Carter and Chiney Ogwumike not only voiced why Clark should have been unanimous but Carter thinks the world should know who that Reese voter was:
“And this is why we would love for the WNBA to make voting not anonymous. Because if you were the person that had that one vote. We should be able to know who you are.”
As for Reese, this is what she tweeted after the award announcement: “Woke up again a very blessed girl. a very happy girl.”
JA MORANT – ROOKIE OF THE YEAR (2019/2020)
Zion Williamson averaged 22.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and shot 58% from the field.
Ja Morant averaged 17.8 points, 7.3 assists, and shot 48% from the field.
What’s the problem with the one person who thought Zion was the Rookie of the Year?
The problem is Zion only played 24 games and that is why the other 99 voters gave it to Ja, who called out that voter on Twitter.
appreciate you 🤝 i’m not gonna do too much , ima let everybody else do dat . i just wanna know why lol 🤔👂🏽
— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) September 19, 2020
The voter’s reason:
“Ja is a transcendent player- no arguing that. But the ROTY should go to the most impactful. The NBA built a TV schedule around Zion and expanded a bubble for Zion. His 24 games were must-see TV. I’ll take that 24-and change PER and stand on that side of history.”
PAOLO BANCHERO – ROOKIE OF THE YEAR (2022/23)
What is it about the Rookie Of The Year award? We don’t have as many examples of this happening with other awards. There is the case of James Harden getting 115 out of 119 votes for the 6th Man Of The Year award in 2012, but the majority of these “there’s always that one” cases are about rookies.
The last case was Paolo Banchero, who averaged 20 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists and didn’t get two out of the 100 first-place votes.
Here is Andy Larsen explaining why he was one of the two people who voted for Walker Kessler.
Basically… the advanced stats all favor Kessler, and I’ve always been an analytically-oriented voter. I think I would have made this vote even if I covered another team.
Here’s where the rookies rank in EPM, and here’s what I wrote in explaining my vote. pic.twitter.com/bmYd0RQEwI
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) April 14, 2023