The second rounder hit his 14th double-double of the season for Sacramento. But will he become a shoe-in for the prestigious rookie list?
Sunday proved that not everything is gloomy or tension-filled with the Sacramento Kings.
Especially in looking at Maxime Raynaud, who sparked a new conversation after his Kings rolled 126-110 over the Chicago Bulls inside the Golden 1 Center.
Raynaud controlled the low post and cleaned up the glass; leading into 26 points with 11 rebounds.
It's officially Raynaud's 14th double-double of the season. But Sunday's outing sparked theories if he just solidified a spot on a prestigious NBA list.
The league placed its focus on top overall pick Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks. Flagg has lived up to the hype in averaging 20.2 points per game. Except he hasn't played a full season, which leaves many wondering if he won't be the unanimous NBA Rookie of the Year winner.
Kon Knueppel of the Charlotte Hornets isn't far behind from his past Blue Devils teammate. Knueppel entered Sunday averaging 19.3 PPG for a team battling to stay alive in the NBA Playoffs race.
VJ Edgecombe (Philadelphia 76ers) sparked some NBA ROTY talk early in the season. He's since dropped 15.3 points per game with 5.5 rebounds.
But Raynaud presents his own case for cracking the five-deep list at the end of the 2025-26 NBA campaign.
Raynaud now has averaged 10.7 points a night. But he's collected 7.1 rebounds per game. That's more than Flagg, Knueppel, and Edgecombe. Only Derik Queen of the New Orleans Pelicans has hauled in more boards.
He ranks in the top 10 for total points among rookies and blocks (28 for the latter stat). Raynaud is proving he's just as equally formidable on the defensive side along with his offensive prowess.
There's one more major stat that places Raynaud near the much hyped Mavericks rookie.
Raynaud trails Flagg, but leads the man who fans and analysts believe could snatch the ROTY honor.
Furthermore, Raynaud is creating one more personal streak: Consecutive games of surpassing the double-digit mark. He's delivered nine straight games of scoring past 10 points, now his longest streak of the season.
Sacramento got hit with mediocrity, first overall pick in the NBA Draft chatter, a lengthy 16-game losing skid and more recently, Russell Westbrook calling out the local media. Raynaud, however, fired up a new conversation...if he can crack the All-Rookie team.
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