Aryna Sabalenka is through to the round of 32 at the Madrid Open after beating Sorana Cirstea 6-4 6-3 on Thursday.

It was an ominous start for Cirstea, being broken to love in the opening game, but she stuck with second seed Sabalenka and broke back, before ultimately being pipped to the first set by the impressive Belarusian.

The key was on break points, with Sabalenka claiming all five that she won against the Cirstea serve, while saving six of eight on her own as she ultimately eased to victory.

Sabalenka now has 26 wins on clay in the WTA since 2021, with only Ons Jabeur (37), Iga Swiatek (34), Paula Badosa (31) and Coco Gauff (28) having more during this time.

Gauff also advanced after a routine 6-4 6-1 win over Irene Burillo Escorihuela, making the sixth seed in Madrid the first player to win 35 WTA-1000 main draw matches as a teenager since 2009.

Ninth seed Maria Sakkari defeated Arantxa Rus 6-4 6-4 and fifth seed Caroline Garcia also had few problems against Yulia Putintseva, winning 6-3 6-4.

However, it was not a good day for 10th seed Petra Kvitova, who was beaten 7-6 (11-9) 6-1 by Jule Niemeier, while 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia also lost, 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 to Mirra Andreeva and 20th seed Donna Vekic was eliminated in straight-sets by Rebeka Masarova.

Jelena Ostapenko took just 61 minutes to get past Linda Fruhvirtova 6-0 6-3, and will face 14th seed Liudmila Samsonova next, who did not take much longer to see off Maryna Zanevska 6-2 6-3.

There were also wins for Elise Mertens, Badosa, Camila Osorio, Shelby Rogers, Mayar Sherif, Magda Linette and Irina-Camelia Begu.

Lamar Jackson will remain with the Baltimore Ravens after all.

After months of negotiating and public posturing, the Ravens and Jackson agreed to a five-year contract extension on Thursday.

The Ravens' official Twitter account confirmed the news by posting a video of the 2019 NFL MVP celebrating the next five years in Baltimore.

Jackson's new deal makes him the highest-paid player in the league with a total contract value of $260million, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, reportedly including $185m in guarantees.

Announced just hours before the start of the 2023 NFL Draft, the contract ends a months-long negotiation process that at times was portrayed as tense and adversarial.

While the details of the contract have not been publicly confirmed, both sides reportedly used Jalen Hurts' new deal with the Philadelphia Eagles as a starting point.

After leading the Eagles to a Super Bowl appearance, Hurts received a five-year extension worth up to $255m, with $179m in guaranteed money.

Jackson had reportedly been seeking a fully guaranteed contract – a demand that had, until this week, caused an impasse in negotiations.

On March 7, Baltimore placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on the two-time Pro Bowl quarterback, allowing other teams an opportunity to sign Jackson to an offer sheet in exchange for two first-round draft picks.

Three weeks later, Jackson announced on Twitter he had requested a trade earlier this offseason.

Jackson is 45-16 as a starter in the regular season and was voted the 2019 MVP after leading the league with 36 touchdown passes and rushing for a quarterback-record 1,206 yards.

In 70 career games, Jackson has completed 63.7 per cent of his passes for 12,209 yards, 101 touchdowns and 38 interceptions. He has added 4,437 rushing yards and 24 scores on the ground.

Pedro Porro and Son Heung-min rescued a much-needed point for Tottenham but their Champions League hopes hang by a thread following a 2-2 draw with Manchester United.

Ryan Mason was instilled as interim boss following Cristian Stellini's exit in the wake of Sunday's crushing 6-1 defeat at Newcastle United, though matters did not start well, with Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford putting Erik ten Hag's side in control.

Yet Porro's terrific goal injected life into Spurs before Son completed the comeback late on.

A draw might stop the rot for Spurs, though their Champions League hopes are fading fast, with United still six points clear in fourth with two games in hand.

Spurs effectively picked up where they left off on Tyneside, cracking after seven minutes when Sancho cut back into the box and powered a low strike past Fraser Forster.

Desperate defence from Ivan Perisic on the goal-line denied the winger a second after an effort ricocheted off Forster and towards a gaping net.

United would not be denied their second however, with Rashford superbly bringing down a sweeping long ball from Bruno Fernandes before tucking home.

Clement Lenglet hit the bar as Spurs came out of the blocks after the restart, and they had their equaliser when Porro prodded a wonderful finish beyond David De Gea.

Fernandes missed a golden chance two minutes later, smashing a one-on-one opportunity against the crossbar.

His misfire was punished in with 11 minutes remaining – Son on hand to tap in at the left post following Harry Kane's lovely assist.

Mikel Arteta will not go down without a fight despite seeing his Arsenal side carved apart by a rampant Manchester City.

Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones and Erling Haaland were on target as Pep Guardiola's side claimed a 4-1 win over the Gunners on Wednesday.

City are now just two points behind the Premier League leaders with two games in hand.

Following City's win, they now have a 92 per cent chance of winning the league, compared to just eight per cent for the Gunners, according to Opta.

Arteta, however, is not giving up hope.

"It's a very difficult night, obviously after the way we lost," he told BT Sport.

"But we have to stand up, look at the bigger picture and the way we are competing toe-to-toe with this team. It's incredible, to be fair, and we want to compete, we're not going to give up.

"There's five games to go, anything can happen and I've seen a lot of things happen over 20 years. You have to believe that, we have to look in the mirror and accept that we have lost against an exceptional team."

City were brilliant throughout.

De Bruyne put them ahead after just seven minutes, before teeing up Stones to add a second on the stroke of half-time.

De Bruyne's second wrapped matters up early in the second half, with Rob Holding striking a consolation before Haaland got in on the act, surpassing Mohamed Salah's record of 32 goals in a 38-game Premier League season in the process.

"We were beaten by the better team, that's for sure," said Arteta.

"They were exceptional and when that's the case, it's difficult to reach that level, and we were nowhere near our level, especially in the first half – when you open that gap, you get punished.

"When you have it in one corner and they kick it 60 yards, they win that duel, they run through you – you have to start competing, winning your duels and all the basic things. We didn't do them in the first half.

"The way we were in the first 20, 30 minutes, they were on top of us, we could not handle the situation. They were being extremely direct, we knew they had the capacity to do that because they can stretch the pitch. We had to compete but we lost it straight away."

Simone Inzaghi hailed Inter for playing as a "real team" after the Nerazzurri battled past Juventus to reach the Coppa Italia final.

Federico Dimarco's first-half strike proved the difference as Inter defeated Juve 1-0 at San Siro on Wednesday, securing a 2-1 aggregate triumph in the semi-final tie.

Victory kept Inter's Coppa defence alive, having beaten Juve in last year's final, while the Nerazzurri are also in the Champions League semi-finals – where they face fierce rivals Milan.

Massimiliano Allegri's side offered little with a performance in stark contrast to a fiery first leg, and Inzaghi believes his side were good value for their triumph.

"It was an intense match from start to finish, we deserved to reach the final," the Inter coach told Mediaset. 

"We are very happy, we wanted to return to Rome [to the Stadio Olimpico for the May 24 final]."

Inter outclassed Allegri's visitors in all departments, with Juve mustering an expected goals tally of just 0.15 to the Nerazzurri's 1.19.

It also marked Inter's first Coppa semi-final victory over Juve in six attempts as the Nerazzurri reached the last four in back-to-back seasons for the first time since doing so between 2009 and 2011.

"They were very good, they had a great race tonight," Inzaghi said of his players. "We did not lose a yard against a strong team, we have remained united and compact, we have been a real team. 

"Whoever entered played his part. I take away many excellent points."

Dimarco was the hero in front of his home crowd, scoring his fifth goal in all competitions this season – only Achraf Hakimi (seven in 2020-21) has managed more in the last 10 seasons among Inter defenders.

The Inter left-back was quick to share the praise, though, pinpointing his team-mates' will to fight as the driving factor for their success.

Asked what the difference was for Inter, Dimarco told Mediaset: "There are no secrets. In this group everyone is fighting for the shirt and to show what they're worth."

"We played an excellent match. It was what we wanted and we achieved it with a good victory."

Barcelona missed the chance to go 14 points clear at the top of LaLiga as goals from Alvaro Garcia and Fran Garcia fired Rayo Vallecano to a 2-1 win over the below-par leaders.

Real Madrid's 4-2 defeat at Girona on Tuesday gave Barca the chance to pull further clear at the summit, but Xavi's men started slowly and soon found themselves behind to Alvaro Garcia's low drive.

Barca's woes were deepened when Fran Garcia broke clear to finish after the break, and although Robert Lewandowski halved the deficit late on, the visitors were unable to find a leveller.

Boasting an 11-point lead over Madrid, Barca still appear destined to win their first league title since 2019, but the Catalan giants have dropped points in three of their last four games after another flat performance.

The first big chance fell to Rayo 17 minutes in, Sergio Camello bursting through after Pedri was caught in possession, only to be denied by Marc-Andre ter Stegen when one on one.

Ter Stegen was unable to save Barca two minutes later, Alvaro Garcia drilling into the bottom-right corner after being found by Camello on the left-hand side of the area.

Stole Dimitrievski preserved Rayo's lead by smothering Lewandowski's dinked attempt, and the hosts escaped again on the stroke of half-time, as a VAR review confirmed an on-field decision to disallow the striker's left-footed finish for offside.

Barca found themselves 2-0 down seven minutes after the restart as Fran Garcia – who is set to re-join former club Real Madrid at the end of the season – raced clear to side-foot calmly under Ter Stegen.

Lewandowski ensured a nervy finish when he volleyed into the top-right corner after Ansu Fati's shot deflected into his path, but Rayo held on to claim a surprise victory.

Manchester City took the Premier League title race into their own hands with a 4-1 demolition job of leaders Arsenal on Wednesday.

Three straight draws saw Arsenal hand City the initiative before the Gunners' trip to the Etihad Stadium, and Pep Guardiola's side showed little mercy in a stunning display of dominance.

Kevin De Bruyne came to the fore, scoring either side of John Stones' header, which City's playmaker teed up.

Rob Holding snatched a consolation late on, but Erling Haaland ensured he had the last word with a goal that saw him break the record for goals in a 38-game Premier League season, as City made their point.

City were convinced they should have had a penalty inside three minutes, yet De Bruyne was adjudged to have fouled Thomas Partey after Aaron Ramsdale fumbled Jack Grealish's cross.

De Bruyne was wheeling away in celebration soon after, though. Having latched onto Haaland's superb touch, the Belgian beat Ramsdale with a sublime finish into the bottom-right corner. 

White and Ramsdale denied De Bruyne and Haaland respectively as City hunted a second, before the latter drilled wide at the end of a menacing run.

Ramsdale thwarted Haaland again, but Arsenal's resolve was punctured for a second time on the stroke of the interval – Stones heading home from De Bruyne's pinpoint free-kick, with the goal awarded after a VAR check on the linesman's offside call.

Haaland's battle with Ramsdale continued after the break, and Arsenal's goalkeeper again came out on top with a superb one-on-one save.

But Haaland turned provider for City's third in the 54th minute, playing a slick one-two with De Bruyne, whose crisp finish flashed beyond Ramsdale.

Partey lashing out at Grealish's taunts was as close as Arsenal came to laying a glove on City before Holding curled home with four minutes remaining.

Haaland, though, got his goal with the final kick of the game, as City emphatically took matters into their own hands.

Federico Dimarco scored the only goal of the game as Inter kept their Coppa Italia defence on course with a 1-0 semi-final win over Juventus, securing a 2-1 aggregate triumph.

The Nerazzurri, who defeated Juve in last year's final, will face either Cremonese or Fiorentina – the latter leading 2-0 ahead of Thursday's second leg – in this season's showpiece on May 24 at Stadio Olimpico.

Inter headed into Wednesday's clash at San Siro with the semi-final tie finely poised at 1-1 after a fiery first leg, although Dimarco's neat first-half finish soon had Simone Inzaghi's hosts in control.

Edin Dzeko saw a strike ruled out for offside in the second half as Massimiliano Allegri's side crashed out of the Coppa with a whimper.

Inter started at a frenetic pace and should have taken a third-minute lead when Nicolo Barella's right-wing cross found Dzeko, who bundled wide at the back post.

Yet the hosts' early dominance was rewarded after 15 minutes as Dimarco coolly rolled into the bottom-left corner following Barella's delicate throughball.

A fine Andre Onana stop from Filip Kostic's arrowing drive was required to keep Inter's lead intact, while Mattia Perin denied a low Lautaro Martinez effort with an equally impressive save.

Another attempt from range by Fabio Miretti tested Onana after the interval, before Dzeko saw a driven finish chalked off for offside from Dimarco's pinpoint pass.

Perin thwarted Henrikh Mkhitaryan late on to limit the damage as Inter advanced into another Coppa final.

What does it mean? Inter alleviate Serie A concerns with more cup joy

Inter are facing a battle to finish in Italy's top four in Serie A for a place in Europe next season, but their cup exploits have kept the Nerazzurri faithful with reason to cheer.

Inzaghi's side are into the Champions League semi-finals, where they face fierce rivals Milan across a two-legged tie, while they remain on course to defend their Coppa Italia crown.

Juve, meanwhile, may have been buoyed by the reversal of their 15-point deduction in Serie A, but the Europa League now represents the Bianconeri's only chance of silverware this season.

Deadly Dimarco

Dimarco continues to be an unlikely source of goals for Inter this season, chipping in with the opener for his fifth strike in all competitions – four of those assisted by Barella.

Across the last 10 seasons for Inter, Achraf Hakimi (seven goals in 2020-21) is the only defender to manage more than Dimarco's tally in the 2022-23 campaign.

Strikerless plan fails for Allegri

Allegri opted to start without a recognised striker, leaving his only out-and-out number nine Arkadiusz Milik on the bench after choosing Federico Chiesa to play up top with Angel Di Maria.

The Juve coach soon introduced Milik at half-time but that did little to improve the Bianconeri's fortunes as they rarely tested Onana in a timid showing that belied their gutsy first-leg performance.

What's next?

Inter return to Serie A action at home to Lazio on Sunday, when Juventus visit Bologna.

Chelsea fell to a fifth consecutive defeat in all competitions after a 2-0 Premier League reverse against Brentford at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

Cesar Azpilicueta's first-half own goal put Brentford ahead at the break, with the Blues unable to muster much of a threat thereafter.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's half-time introduction did at least provide some energy to Chelsea's attack, though the hosts never truly looked like scoring.

Any hope of a late comeback was thwarted by Bryan Mbeumo, his deflected effort clinching a win to boost Brentford's European hopes.

Liverpool came from behind to secure a third win in a row as they beat West Ham 2-1 at the London Stadium on Wednesday.

Lucas Paqueta's fierce strike gave West Ham an early lead, before Cody Gakpo equalised from distance and Joel Matip headed in a second-half winner.

The win took Liverpool up to sixth in the Premier League, ahead of Tottenham on goal difference before the north London side host Manchester United on Thursday.

David Moyes' men remain five points away from the relegation zone, but their loss here could give rivals hope of dragging them back into the conversation.

West Ham had the lead in the 12th minute when Paqueta came in off the left before playing a one-two with Michail Antonio and firing inside Alisson's near post from just outside the penalty area.

It did not take long for Liverpool to get level though as Gakpo hit a shot from 25-yards low to Lukasz Fabianski's right and in off the post.

Klopp's men should have been ahead in the 26th minute when the ball fell kindly to Diogo Jota in the area, but the former Wolves man sliced his effort over the bar, while he and Virgil van Dijk also saw headers go just wide.

The Hammers also had two promising moments before half-time when Van Dijk prodded the ball away from Antonio at the far post, before the striker then headed wide from the resulting corner.

Jarrod Bowen scored a lovely goal cutting in off the right 10 minutes into the second half only to see it disallowed by the VAR for offside.

Liverpool were not denied though when Matip's bullet header in the 67th minute from an Andrew Robertson corner put them ahead, and Klopp's side held on for the three points.

A quickfire 56 from Jason Roy helped Kolkata Knight Riders to a 21-run victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.

RCB looked like they might be able to chase down their target of 201 after Virat Kohli (54) threatened to outdo Roy, but once wickets started to fall the hosts ran out of steam quickly.

Roy brought up his 50 from just 22 balls, while Narayan Jagadeesan (27) played a supporting role, but the latter became the first wicket to fall as he tried to hit Vijaykumar Vyshak for six, instead finding David Willey for a simple catch on the boundary.

Vyshak (2-41) then clattered the leg stump of Roy in the same over to give RCB another boost as they looked to get back in to the game.

Captain Nitish Rana (48 from 21 balls) was dropped twice and made RCB pay as he blitzed some boundaries, before finally being caught well by Vyshak off the bowling of Wanindu Hasaranga (2-24).

Venkatesh Iyer (31) was also gone just two balls later after hitting one straight up in the air for Glenn Maxwell to take, while Mohammed Siraj bowled Andre Russell for just one in the penultimate over.

Rinku Singh (18 not out) and David Wiese (12no) added some welcome late boundaries to the end of the innings and set a target just beyond 200, but the reply started well for RCB.

Kohli and Faf Du Plessis (17) hit 30 from the first two overs, though the South African was out in the third as he hit Suyash Sharma to Rinku at long-on.

Suyash (2-30) had another soon after when he trapped Shahbaz Ahmed (2) lbw, and Maxwell (5) was not far behind as he hit a soft shot off Varun Chakravarthy straight to Wiese.

Mahipal Lomror was nicely dovetailing with Kohli as he knocked 34 from 18 balls before finding Russell's safe hands on the boundary as he tried to slog Chakravarthy (3-27).

Hope seemed to be over for the hosts when Kohli hit Russell to deep mid-wicket, only for Venkatesh to take the catch, while Suyash Prabhudessai (10) was run out and Hasaranga added just five before departing.

Once Dinesh Karthik has fallen to Chakravarthy for 22, the writing was on the wall as the Knight Riders clinched just their third win of the season.

Roy wracks up runs

England batter Roy struck 56 to bring up his fourth 50+ score in the IPL; and has now scored 160 runs so far in this, his fourth season, his highest of any prior IPL campaign.

Roy hit four fours and five sixes on Wednesday, with no other batter on either team hitting as many maximums.

Kohli notches another 50

The RCB captain was not quite as explosive as Roy, taking 37 balls to make his 54 and not hitting any sixes (six fours), but Kohli still set the table for what could have been a decent stab at reaching 201 for his team, though it fizzled out fairly rapidly.

This was his fifth 50+ score of the season, the joint-most of any batter (with team-mate Du Plessis), while it was his 54th 50+ score in the competition's history, second to only David Warner (63).

Erling Haaland's goalscoring feats are comparable to those of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, according to Bernardo Silva, who believes his Manchester City team-mate shares the former's hunger for goals.

Haaland has led City's push for a Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup treble this season, scoring at a remarkable rate since his arrival from Borussia Dortmund last year.

The Norwegian has hit 48 goals in 42 appearances across all competitions this campaign – already a record tally for a player representing a Premier League club. 

Haaland has averaged a goal every 67.2 minutes and converted 58.6 per cent of his Opta-defined big chances for City, leaving Silva to compare his mentality to that of his Portugal colleague Ronaldo.

"The goal figures, it's unbelievable. It's Cristiano and Messi level, that amount of goals," Silva told Arab News.

"Hopefully Erling can keep going that way because we need his goals until the last game of the season.

"He has definitely got the same mentality as Cristiano, always wanting to be in the box, always wanting to score. 

"He doesn't care if he touches the ball one or two times, when he touches it, he scores. He's just a proper striker."

Haaland's total of 54 goal contributions is the best of anyone playing in Europe's top five leagues this season, with Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe second with 42 (34 goals, eight assists).

With Ronaldo's move to Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr likely signalling the end of his era-defining rivalry with Messi, Silva was asked whether Haaland and Mbappe could be the protagonists of a similar struggle in the future.

"Probably, yes," Silva said. "You have a few players apart from them who are doing very well, like Vinicius [Junior] as well. But it's true, those two are very young and doing very well.

"Kylian is more of a dribbler with the ball and Haaland is mainly inside the box like a proper striker, but both are very, very good at what they do. 

"It's not going to be easy to match the level that Cristiano and Messi did, but they are up there at the top."

Ryan Mason demanded a reaction from Tottenham's players after stepping up to replace Cristian Stellini as acting head coach, ahead of Thursday's visit of Manchester United.

Former Spurs midfielder Mason took charge on Monday, with Stellini removed from his role following a dismal 6-1 defeat at Newcastle United – who led 5-0 within just 21 minutes.

While Tottenham appear highly unlikely to contend for a top-four finish, there are still European spots up for grabs as they prepare to host Erik ten Hag's Red Devils.

Asked what he expected to see from Spurs against United, Mason said: "A reaction, absolutely.

"Obviously Sunday was disappointing for us, and I would hope and expect there's a reaction from not only the players, but everyone in the building and everyone involved in the club.

"I've been in football long enough to know things can turn around very quickly. I believe we can make a positive impact. We have a game on Thursday to try and react and get back to winning ways.

"So the feeling and the thought isn't on the whole situation – it's about how we're going to influence the players and get some positivity back."

United approach Thursday's game in high spirits, having reached the FA Cup final through Sunday's penalty shoot-out win over Brighton and Hove Albion.

Possessing a six-point lead over Tottenham with two games in hand, United could effectively end their hosts' ailing top-four hopes with a victory.

Asked how important the game was to United's own bid for Champions League football, Ten Hag said: "Very. You see the table. It is quite clear.

"But our approach will not change. Our approach is we want to win every game.

"I have to make sure that our players are ready for tomorrow. I have to make sure that they have energy and are on the front foot to go into battle."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Tottenham – Harry Kane

Kane has scored 99 Premier League home goals for Tottenham, and is bidding to become the first player to reach a century of goals in both home and away games in the competition.

He has scored five league goals against Manchester United in his career, but only one of those has come at home – in the final game played at White Hart Lane in May 2017.

Manchester United – Marcus Rashford

Having scored 10 goals in his first 10 Premier League appearances following the World Cup break, Rashford has now scored just once in his last five outings in the competition.

Just three of his 15 league goals this term have come away from home, but with the Red Devils harbouring doubts over Bruno Fernandes' fitness, Rashford will be required to step up in north London.

MATCH PREDICTION – TOTTENHAM WIN

United have won their last three Premier League games by an aggregate score of 5-0. They have not won four successive matches in the competition without conceding since their final season under Alex Ferguson in 2012-13, winning six consecutive games to nil between February and March 2013.

The Red Devils have won 39 Premier League games against Tottenham. No side has beaten a single opponent more often in the competition's history, while they are also unbeaten in seven midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday) games in the Premier League this term (W5 D2).

However, the visitors have conceded 29 away goals in the Premier League this season, only ever shipping more on the road in a single campaign last term (35), and their injury problems may inspire hope of a new manager bounce for Spurs.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Tottenham 42.0 per cent

Manchester United 30.1 per cent

Draw 27.9 per cent

Devin Booker was lauded for his incredible 47-point performance against the Los Angeles Clippers but acknowledged the Phoenix Suns would take "a good lesson" from their series-clinching win.

The Suns wrapped up a 4-1 series victory with a 136-130 success on Tuesday in which Booker tied his playoff career high. He scored 25 points in the third quarter alone, another high mark in any single quarter.

That display epitomised a sensational series for Booker, who averaged 37.2 points, shooting 60.2 per cent from the field and 85.7 per cent from the foul line.

Only Michael Jordan, in the first round in 1992, had previously averaged 35 or more points on 60 per cent shooting from the field and 80 per cent shooting from the line.

Reflecting on the third quarter, team-mate Kevin Durant said: "It was spiritual.

"I don't scream too much in games as I get older, but when he hit that three at the top of the key, I felt that energy, and I know everyone in the crowd felt it. We feed off his aggression."

Coach Monty Williams added: "When he's going like that, we're not calling any plays."

The fourth quarter was a different story, however.

Booker had only six points as the Clippers, still without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, outscored the Suns by 11 to threaten a fightback.

"I think it's a good lesson for us moving forward," Booker said. "Don't play with your food. Finish out as strong as you can. Keep playing all the way until the whistle blows."

The first overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft has lived up to the hype, with Orlando Magic wing Paolo Banchero being named NBA Rookie of the Year on Tuesday.

Banchero, 20, looked every bit of a future All-Star, leading all rookies with an average of 20.0 points per game, while his 6.9 rebounds per game had him fifth in the class, and his 3.7 assists per game were the third-most among first-year players.

While he was an inefficient scorer, shooting 42.7 per cent from the field, 29.8 per cent from deep and 73.8 per cent from the free throw line, on any given night he could put together an All-NBA quality performance.

His best performances included a 31-point, six-rebound, two-steal performance in a hard-fought road win against the Boston Celtics in December, hitting six of his seven three-point attempts, and he flirted with his first career triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in an overtime win against the Miami Heat in March.

He ended up collecting 98 out of the 100 possible first-place votes, with Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler receiving the other two to finish in second, and promising Oklahoma City Thunder wing Jalen Williams rounded out the podium spots.

There was a late push for Kessler from the analytics community as the 21-year-old showed he was already capable of playing winning basketball, finishing fourth in the league for blocks per game (2.3), and his 3.3 blocks per game after the All-Star break led the league.

Kessler also shot 72.0 per cent from the field – the third-highest mark among all players averaging at least 20 minutes per game – although his 51 per cent figure from the free throw line is a concern going forward.