The Mavericks fell to 24-53 with a loss to Orlando on Friday night, but it was another huge night for No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg, who became the youngest player – and the first teenager – in NBA history to score at least 50 points in a game, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
Flagg set a new career high by racking up 51 points on 19-of-30 shooting. The performance increased his full-season scoring average to 20.8 points per game, which ranks first among rookies. Among qualified rookies, he also ranks third in rebounds (6.6), second in assists (4.5), second in steals (1.2), and second in blocks (0.9) per game.
The 19-year-old is on track to become just the fourth rookie since the ABA-NBA merger in 1976 to average at least 20 points, six rebounds, and four assists per game, notes MacMahon. The other three are Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Luka Doncic.
“He should be Rookie of the Year. It’s unbelievable,” head coach Jason Kidd said of Flagg. “The country is not watching the same thing that we get to watch on a daily basis. The things that he’s done, he’s in rare air. He’s with the GOAT when you talk about MJ and what he did in his rookie year — and as a teenager.”
However, Flagg isn’t the current frontrunner for Rookie of the Year recognition. That honor belongs to his former college teammate Kon Knueppel, who earned 80 of 100 first-place votes in a Rookie of the Year straw poll recently conducted by Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Flagg received the other 20 first-place votes).
Knueppel, who has played 12 more games and 227 more total minutes than his former Duke co-star, has averaged 18.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 31.5 minutes per contest as a rookie for the Hornets.
Two major factors have given Knueppel the edge over Flagg in the eyes of many voters. For one, he’s having the best shooting season of any rookie in NBA history. The fourth overall picks leads the NBA with 264 made three-pointers and is knocking down 43.1% of his attempts, which also puts him among the league leaders in three-point percentage. Flagg isn’t having a bad shooting season – he has made 51.8% of his two-pointers – but he has converted just 29.3% of his shots from beyond the arc.
Additionally, while the Hornets are hardly a juggernaut, the emergence of the young squad has been one of the most fun NBA stories of the last few months. Charlotte hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016 and got off to an 11-23 start this season, but has since improved its record to 42-36. The team, which currently holds the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, has a real chance to end its postseason drought, and Knueppel has played a crucial role in that turnaround.
Flagg’s boosters would argue that it’s not his fault the banged-up Mavs essentially entered tank mode midway through the season and that he doesn’t have the same sort of supporting cast Knueppel does in Charlotte, where LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Miles Bridges are also having big years.
There’s even a recent precedent for a star rookie on a bad team winning Rookie of the Year over a fellow standout who had an important role on a playoff team — Victor Wembanyama of the 22-60 Spurs beat out Chet Holmgren of the 57-25 Spurs in 2024. But Wembanyama, who averaged over 20 points and 10 rebounds per game while leading the league in blocked shots, was even better two years ago than Flagg has been this season.
We want to know what you think. With apologies to VJ Edgecombe and a few other notable members of 2025’s draft class, Rookie of the Year has become a two-man race this season. So should Flagg or Knueppel win the award?
Vote in our poll and head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!
The omission of VJ is annoying. But for me:
1 Flagg
2 VJ
3 Kon
But all 3 deserve consideration. Great job by all of them.
Silly, but Kon deserves it based on his play this season as a second/third man. slightly less counting stats per game, but more efficient.
Flagg has better potential, but he’s also the primary on his team, and it’s a bad team. Kon elevated the Hornets from 19 wins to 42 win team (obviously others helped)
it’s not the who has the most potential award.
I’m a Sixers fan and VJ has been a real find this year, but no rookie has ever led the league in 3 pointers before, so if I had a vote it would be for Kon.
Coop has a 51 point game (and a 49 one) as a 19 year old
Kon hasn’t cracked 35 points yet
Coop’s best game score is 44.2
Kon’s is 31.1
Kon has played 12 more games and also the better total stats and metrics
Metrics can be tricky when using 1 season of results though, especially defensive metrics
It’s kinda close tbh but I will take Flagg’s higher ceiling and youth over Kon’s single season stats, which might be luck-based although he is flashing a superstar potential at age 20 too. I wish they allowed for ties, that would be a good result here.
Stats should be what determines this award, not hype.
Cooper has superior stats to Kon in many key areas (highest points total in a game). Kon has superior health, which has allowed to play in all but 1 game, therefore he has superior counting stats, due to more minutes. Kon also plays on a superior team, whereas Dallas is all Coop and no help. Hard to say. You can’t deny both their exploits this year are worthy of ROY. Any 19 year old scoring like Coop has should be worthy. Kon has all the help in the world, he is in a perfect situation, Coop is not. Should be a tie tbh
Must be nice to be a Hornets fan. ROY candidate. A rising team. Cap Space. 2 picks in the upcoming deep draft. Future is looking nice.
Historically there have been co-rookie of the year in the past but maybe this time we split it 3 ways; they all deserve praise.
Flagg has slightly better stats. Hornets are playing better than Mavs. And Kon is big reason why. Kon shooting is tops among rookies.
It’s close Flagg and Kon.
I give it to “The Kon”
same, but either of them are deserving
Cooper had had a lot less help offensively while Kon has been able to play in a good, stable offense. Sure, he’s a big part of the reason that offense—and the team as a whole—has been so good, particularly lately but I’d give the slight edge to the former. There’s also the fact that Kidd messed with Cooper a bit with the whole point guard experiment, although I guess you can’t really factor that in here.
As for the fact that Kon leads the NBA in threes, I don’t think that should factor in too much since that’s more a function of health (he’s only missed one game all season).
Great point about Kon’s health + being in a functional offense with Lamelo his backcourt partner…real Steph/Klay model they are using over there.
Knueppel for me. Regardless of what happens from now until the end of the season. Even if Flagg scores 50 in every game that’s left.
Knueppel and Charlotte are actually playing for something right now, while Dallas are just playing for Flagg’s stats and awards.
But I feel Flagg will get it because of his pre-draft status. The next American star and all that.