The Portland Trail Blazers are one day away from the start of their 2024-2025 season. Although expectations are not high for the team, it has many young and exciting players looking to make a name for themselves.

The Trail Blazers have a lot of young players on their roster, but none are better than their rookie, Donovan Clingan.

Clingan is about to enter his first year in the NBA and he wants to make a name for himself at the NBA level. He certainly did that at the college level, winning back-to-back NCAA titles, but as we all know, the NBA is night and day compared to college.

Clingan is expected to be one of the top rookies in this year’s class. After being the No. 7 overall pick in this year’s draft, he has a solid chance to win the 2024-2025 NBA Rookie of the Year award.

How good are his chances? Clingan has the ninth-best odds of winning the award, according to NBA betting sites. Clingan has +2500 odds to take home the prize.

The eight players for Clingan are Carlton Carrington (Wizards), Dalton Knecht (Lakers), Alex Sarr (Wizards), Stephon Castle (Spurs), Matas Buzelis (Bulls), Zaccharie Risacher (Hawks), Reed Sheppard (Rockets), and Zach Edey (Grizzlies) with the best odds of +400.

Clingan is perhaps the most talented player compared to all the other top rookies so far. The 20-year-old led UConn to back-to-back titles and has the tools to become a solid NBA big man. He is 2 meters 22 and can defend like the best because of his size and length on the field.

While he has all the tools and skills to play a crucial role in the Blazers’ rotation soon, he will start as a backup center behind Deandre Ayton and Robert Williams III.

Nevertheless, both centers are at risk of getting hurt, as we have seen throughout their careers. If Clingan can stay healthy, he could play an even more important role than we expect him to.

Prior to the NBA, Clingan was at UConn, which put the nation on notice. In two seasons, he averaged 9.8 points per game, 6.4 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 2.1 blocks while shooting 54.5 percent from the field and 65.3 percent from the free-throw line.

Portland is excited about what Clingan can become, and we’ll see how he does in his first-ever NBA season, which starts Wednesday.

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