We're nearing the end of the regular season, but Cooper Flagg's resume in his Rookie of the Year campaign against Kon Knueppel makes this race look like anything but a close one.
The 2025-26 NBA regular season is nearing an end, and the Rookie of the Year race between the Dallas Mavericks' No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg and Charlotte Hornets' No. 4 pick Kon Knueppel - Duke teammates just a year ago - will soon be a major talking point.
Knueppel has led the way (at least on the NBA's Rookie Latter) in most betting prediction markets due to being the youngest player to make 250+ 3-pointers in a season. He leads the league in shots made from behind the arc.
But after Flagg slowly eased into his best work after the beginning of the year, he's now setting records that put him in the conversation of Hall of Famers like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and even Mavs head coach Jason Kidd - who shared the Rookie of the Year award with Grant Hill in 1995.
A second-ever shared award could be possible this year, but Flagg's stats and well-rounded contributions to his team are overwhelming in this debate. They make this race look like anything but a close one, and Kidd is urging for that to be recognized.
"Yeah, it's a big priority that the organization pays attention to this," the coach said about Flagg's chances for the award. He'd become the first Maverick to win ROY since Luka Doncic in 2018-19.
"He's having a historic year as a rookie. When you put his numbers up against past rookies who have won the award, it's clear cut that it's not even close he is the one who will win Rookie of the Year."
Flagg is averaging 20.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game in comparison to Knueppel's 19.1/5.3/3.5 a night.
As Kidd alluded to, Flagg's season has been transcendent, even against his peers. Flagg would be just the fourth rookie in 50 years to average his current marks for a full season, and that comes while he's usually facing the opposing team's best defensive player head-to-head.
With a hat-tip to the Dallas Morning News' Brad Townsend, more numbers build a strong resume for "The Case for Cooper".
"Flagg is the only one who ranks among the top five rookies in scoring (1st, 20.4 points per game); rebounding (4th, 6.6); assists (2nd, 4.7); steals (3rd, 1.1); and blocks (5th, 0.93)," Townsend noted.
"He is the second-youngest player in history to score 1,000 or more points, behind only James. And on Jan. 29, Flagg scored the most points (49) in history by a teenager [against Knueppel's Hornets]."
And most recently? Flagg's 20-point half against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night was his 11th such performance of the season, more than the rest of the rookie field combined (10).
"He’s so positive," Kidd said. "He’s gotten better and better as the season has gone on. He’s all about competition and he wants to win."
Dallas beat the Blazers, and as has been the case lately (win or lose) the Mavs got a big help on the defensive end from their top rookie. He's averaging over a block and a steal a game since All-Star Weekend, which, pairing with his other stat averages in that time (20/7/6), makes him the only player in the entire NBA meeting those totals.
Will the Mavs' poor record bring a disadvantage to Flagg when it comes time to vote for the award, especially considering Charlotte's vault into the East playoff picture (though returning top scorers LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller after an injury-plagued year in 2024-25)?
Kidd doesn't believe that should be the case.
"Sometimes votes are looked at differently," the coach said. "Everybody has their opinion on the vote, of popularity, of what the trend is. And, so nothing against Knueppel. He's having a heck of a season, too.
"But when you look at the numbers, just the strict numbers, Cooper's are as good as anybody's."
