Cooper Flagg Named Rookie-Of-Year Edging Out Former College Teammate Kon Knueppel

Number one overall pick, Cooper Flagg, was named the 2026 Rookie of the Year on Monday, narrowly beating out his Duke teammate Kon Knueppel in one of the tightest races of all time.

The Dallas Mavericks rookie beat the Charlotte Hornets rookie by a total of 26 points amongst 100 media members who voted. Flagg received 56 first-place votes, and Knueppel receiving 44 first-place votes.

Flagg became the second youngest player ever to win the award at 19 years of age, only behind LeBron James.

“I see the games every night. I can check the box scores,” Flagg said when he was asked about his Duke roommate Knueppel. “I think also I was watching Kon just because that’s one of my brothers,” he added.

“We had such a good connection, and we’re gonna be there for each other for the rest of our lives. I was watching him as a fan, as well, but there was obviously that competition at the same time.”

The 26-point gap is the second closest margin ever in this award’s current voting history, with only the 2021-22 race being tighter between Scottie Barnes and Evan Mobley, which was a 15-point gap.

Flagg averaged an impressive 21.0/6.7/4.5 in his rookie campaign, numbers only Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, and Luka Doncic put up during their rookie seasons.

Knueppel, on the other hand, averaged 18.5/5.3/3.5 while leading the NBA in three-pointers made and breaking the rookie three-point record with 273 threes made.

The argument for Knueppel was that he was playing more meaningful minutes with the Hornets, finishing 44-38 and narrowly missing the playoffs.

Flagg set the scoring record for a teenager with 49 points on January 29 against the Knueppel and the Hornets despite losing the game.