Dallas Mavericks wing Cooper Flagg won the 2025-26 Rookie of the Year Award over Charlotte Hornets forward Kon Knueppel.
During his Rookie of the Year Award speech on Thursday, Dallas Mavericks wing Cooper Flagg shouted out Charlotte Hornets forward Kon Knueppel.
Flagg won the 2025-26 Rookie of the Year Award over Knueppel, who was his roommate at Duke last year. The two youngsters are very close friends.
“Me and Kon talked all year long, but we never talked about Rookie of the Year or what people were saying about any of that. It was more just support for one another and staying in contact,” Flagg said, via Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal. “He’s somebody that’s going to be one of my best friends for the rest of my life. Just staying in contact, seeing how things have been different for him and what he’s learned, and trying to help each other in our own journeys.”
Flagg appeared in 70 games during his rookie season. He averaged 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 46.8% from the field, 29.5% from beyond the arc and 82.7% from the free-throw line.
Meanwhile, Knueppel played in 81 games. He averaged 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game and shot 47.5% from the field, 42.5% from 3 and 86.3% from the free-throw line. He led the NBA in 3s.
Flagg pulled in 56 of 100 first-place votes to Knueppel's 44, finishing with 412 total points to the Hornets guard's 386. The 26-point gap was the second-smallest margin in a Rookie of the Year race since the current voting format began in 2002-03, trailing only the 15-point spread between Scottie Barnes and Evan Mobley in 2021-22.
Even though Knueppel didn't win the Rooke of the Year Award, he still had a special season for the Hornets.
Knueppel claimed the first four Rookie of the Month awards this season, becoming the first Hornet ever to win the award four times. Here is what else the rookie accomplished this season, via the Hornets:
- At age 20, became the only player in NBA history age 22 or younger to record 250 3PM in a season against New York (March 26).
- Passed Michael Jordan for the NBA rookie record for most games with 20+ points on 65% true shooting (27) against Miami (March 6) in his then-rookie-leading 14th 25-point game.
- Set an NBA rookie record for 3-pointers made in a season (207) with a career-high-tying and franchise-rookie-record-tying 8 3PM at Indiana (Feb. 26); Knueppel tied his own franchise rookie record.
- Set a new NBA record for most games with 5+ 3PM by a rookie with 14 at Atlanta (Feb. 7).
- Broke the rookie record for most games with 20+ points on 50/40/90 shooting splits (12) against Golden State (Dec. 31), previously set by Stephen Curry.
- Knueppel is one of three rookies in NBA history (min. 25 games played) to average 15 points and 5 rebounds per game and shoot 40% from 3-point range; the other two are Larry Bird and Paul Pierce.
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