Showing appreciation for fellow NBA rookies speaks volumes about a young player's character. That's definitely the case when it comes to Dallas Mavericks rising star point guard Dennis Smith Jr. and his respect for Chicago Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen. The high-flying guard had some interesting praise for the Finnish big man.

When asked who he'd vote for as the NBA's 2018 Rookie of the Year, Smith Jr. immediately had Markkanen come to his mind amongst the wide range of candidates.

Per Mavs reporter Earl K. Sneed:

“For me, when you take everything into account, I would probably say Lauri Markkanen from the Bulls,” Smith Jr. said on Friday afternoon while meeting with the media in Los Angeles.

https://twitter.com/EarlKSneed/status/964594748957769729

Smith Jr. and Markkanen both should receive their fair share of votes for Rookie of the Year, regardless of the records their teams end up with at the end of the season.

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Markkanen's teammate in point guard Kris Dunn says that we haven't seen anything yet from the young forward, as his best is still to come, according to writer Sam Smith of Bulls.com:

“For Lauri to (also) be in the game, many more accomplishments are going to be with him,” Dunn said. “I'm not going to try to do too much. I'm going to go out there and have fun. If Lauri guards me, I'm going to try to give it to him, do a couple of moves on him. It will be fun to just guard each other. Go out there and smile. Shoot bad, shoot good; just have a good time with it.”

Lauri Markkanen
Elsa/Getty Images

This is one of the deepest rookie classes that NBA fans have gotten the privilege to watch in recent memory. Philadelphia 76ers rising star point guard Ben Simmons seems to be the favorite right now, while players like Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell, Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma continue to gain ground in the race for Rookie of the Year.