Why Cooper Flagg won NBA Rookie of the Year over college teammate Kon Knueppel in tight vote

There is one true winner in the 2025-26 NBA Rookie of the Year debate:

Duke.

The Blue Devils produced the two contenders for the award, with No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg facing a major challenge from college teammate Kon Knueppel in the race to be crowned the NBA's top newcomer.

Flagg showed flashes of stardom throughout his rookie season with the Dallas Mavericks, even as his team quickly played its way out of any playoff conversation. Knueppel, meanwhile, had one of the best 3-point shooting seasons any rookie has had in NBA history, helping the Hornets win 44 games before missing the playoffs as well. 

It's hard to argue Flagg isn't on track to be the better all-around player, but Knueppel's shooting proficiency and the Hornets' success, at least in comparison to Dallas, made the race razor thin down the stretch.

Here's a look at why Flagg was named Rookie of the Year over Knueppel.

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Why Cooper Flagg won Rookie of the Year over Kon Knueppel

The Mavericks' season didn't go according to plan, but voters who chose Flagg as their Rookie of the Year are saying they don't believe it was at all the fault of the No. 1 pick. That's an easy point to make, as Dallas got virtually nothing out of Anthony Davis before a midseason trade and Kyrie Irving never appeared in a game. It's hard to pin the losses on Flagg, even if he was less than perfect on the offensive end.

Flagg led rookies in scoring and assists, averaging 21.0 points and 4.5 assists per game, and his 6.7 rebounds per game ranked third among all rookies. Flagg also averaged better than a steal per game and showed some of that same defensive ability he flashed at Duke, even with so little talent around him in Dallas. 

Explosive performances down the stretch helped Flagg surge into the Rookie of the Year lead. He became the youngest player in NBA history to score 50 points in a game when he dropped 51 on April 3, and he followed it up two days later with 45 points against the Lakers.

Flagg averaged 24.8 points per game over his final 16 contests; Knueppel, meanwhile, showed signs of hitting a wall during his final 16 games, averaging 15.8 points per game and shooting a still-respectable 37.2 percent from beyond the arc after posting a 43.8 percent mark before that closing stretch. 

Could Knueppel's poor showing in the Play-In Tournament have had an impact on the race? It wasn't supposed to, as only the regular season counts toward the award, but with award ballots delayed longer than usual this year, it's like telling a jury to ignore the evidence that shouldn't have been admitted. As long as recency bias exists — it does — that two-game stretch will go down as a pivotal moment in the race that likely helped Flagg win.

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NBA Rookie of the Year voting

This section will be updated.

100 media members vote for the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. Stephon Castle won the award last season with 92 of 100 first-place votes. Before this season, 2021-22 marked the last time the Rookie of the Year Award was won with less than 90 first-place votes. 

MORE: Why Kon Knueppel was named SN's Rookie of the Year

Cooper Flagg vs. Kon Knueppel stats

Here's a snapshot of the rookie seasons for Flagg and Knueppel, by the numbers:

Flagg led in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, but he was less efficient than Knueppel even with the Hornets rookie shooting so many 3-pointers.