Welcome, rooks: Ayton, Bamba, Trier sparkle
ORLANDO, Fla. — Mo Bamba heard his name over Orlando’s public address system for the first time during introductions, and waved his arms to the crowd asking for their cheers. Then the game started. He didn’t have to solicit noise anymore.
Welcome to the NBA, rookie class of 2018-19. There were 31 newcomers who got their first official playing time Wednesday, the initial hectic night on this season’s schedule. Some of those debuts were forgettable, some barely noticeable, but a few — like No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton in Phoenix, the No. 6 overall pick in Bamba and even undrafted rookie Allonzo Trier in New York — stood out.
“Felt pretty good,” Bamba said. “It was everything I expected it to be.”
He wasn’t the only rookie smiling Wednesday.
Ayton made his first three shots and finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists as Phoenix eased past Dallas. Bamba was clutch for Orlando, putting together a 13-point, seven-rebound, two-block effort in the Magic win over Miami. And maybe it was fitting — Ayton and Trier had plenty of big nights together at Arizona as collegians last season, and they had another one Wednesday, albeit about 2,400 miles apart.
Trier had 15 points for the Knicks in their easy win over Atlanta, two of those points coming on a down-the-lane dunk where he went either past or over four Hawks players, a play that even had New York coach David Fizdale celebrating.
“Some things happen in a game sometimes and you just go, ‘Whoa,’” Fizdale said.
After two nights of this season, 35 players have made their NBA debuts. That’s just the first of many waves; 119 rookies got into at least one game last season, a figure helped mightily by the emergence of two-way contracts. Last season’s newcomer total was the league’s highest since 1949-50 when 120 debuted — in large part because what was the 12team BAA the year before became the 17-team NBA that season.
Atlanta’s Trae Young, the No. 5 pick in the draft, made his first NBA shot. The make was a notable event for Young, who said that he airballed his first shot attempt in high school, in college and at the NBA Summer League in July. Progress, indeed. “This is just one of many,” Young said, not sounding worried about the Hawks’ rocky opener.
None of the rookies so far have had monster numbers, but then again, those are rare in debuts.
The record for points by someone in his first game is held by Wilt Chamberlain, who scored 43 for the Philadelphia Warriors at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks on Oct. 24,