Orlando Magic rising star Paolo Banchero is the Rookie of the Year for the 2022-23 season; however, not a lot of people are happy with the voting.

It's not that fans didn't want Banchero to win. In fact, it's the opposite since many saw him as the overwhelming favorite. Nonetheless, what shocked and disappointed NBA fans is the fact that he wasn't a unanimous choice.

Banchero got 98 first-place votes and had one second-place and one third-place votes. Utah Jazz big man Walker Kessler had two first-place votes.

The Magic freshman not winning unanimously is one thing, but it's definitely surprising for many that someone really voted him third when it's clear he was the best rookie on the year.

“Who the hell gave 1st place votes to Kessler?” a shocked Twitter user wrote.

“Two cornball voters. Andy Larsen is one,” another commenter said, referencing the Salt Lake City Tribune writer who was revealed to have voted for Utah's Kessler in a recent voting leak. For what it's worth, Larsen argued that his vote was based on analytics.

Article Continues Below

A critic added, “Voting Walker Kessler over Banchero is bad. Voting Banchero 3rd behind any combo of 2 players needs to be investigated cause you should not have a vote next year lmfao.”

“Kessler over Banchero should be auto ban from sports takes,” a fourth fan commented.

Sure enough, it's hard to make a case against Paolo Banchero not winning Rookie of the Year considering the work he has done. The numbers he put up while trying to lead the Magic were even comparable to LeBron James' and other greats.

At the end of the day, however, voters have different preferences and criteria for judging. It's unfortunate Banchero didn't win unanimously, but hey, he still won and that's what matters more. It would have been a bigger blasphemy if he didn't.