Cooper Flagg wins NBA Rookie of the year over former Duke teammate Kon Knueppel

{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cooper-flagg-wins-nba-rookie-020332917.html","headline":"Cooper Flagg wins NBA Rookie of the year over former Duke teammate Kon Knueppel","datePublished":"2026-04-28T02:03:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-28T02:03:32.000Z","keywords":["Cooper Flagg","Kon Knueppel","NBA","Dallas Mavericks","the Mavericks","Duke","Charlotte Hornets","Emeka Okafor","Kyrie Irving","Ben Gordon","Paul Pierce","Evan Mobley","Scottie Barnes","Elton Brand","LeBron James","Anthony Davis","Los Angeles Lakers","VJ Edgecombe","Philadelphia","Orlando"],"description":"Cooper Flagg set a host of records for an NBA teenager in an also-ran season for Dallas Mavericks. Kon Knueppel helped the Charlotte Hornets to a 25-win...","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Yahoo Sports","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://s.yimg.com/cv/apiv2/default/icons/favicon_y112_112.png","width":112,"height":112},"url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/"},"author":{"@type":"Person","name":"WSOCTV.com News Staff","url":"","jobTitle":""},"creator":{"@type":"Person","name":"WSOCTV.com News Staff","url":"","jobTitle":""},"provider":{"@type":"Organization","name":"WSOC","url":"https://www.wsoctv.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":278,"height":100,"url":"https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2022-03/0390a170-aab7-11ec-b75f-278f2e497c66"}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/pr8KEtTRWZpW00a1qxCD.w--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTQyMDtoPTI5NDtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/wsoc_cox_articles_386/660450f9fb011672da6e11f990622637","height":210,"width":300},"thumbnailUrl":"https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/pr8KEtTRWZpW00a1qxCD.w--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTQyMDtoPTI5NDtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/wsoc_cox_articles_386/660450f9fb011672da6e11f990622637"}Story byCooper Flagg wins NBA Rookie of the year over former Duke teammate Kon KnueppelWSOCTV.com News StaffTue, April 28, 2026 at 2:03 AM UTC·4 min readCooper Flagg set a host of records for an NBA teenager in an also-ran season for Dallas Mavericks. Kon Knueppel helped the Charlotte Hornets to a 25-win improvement that almost led to a spot in the playoffs.It’s no wonder they ended up in a tight Rookie of the Year race.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement#_R_63iudcaanpfiv65bH1_ { display: none; } @media screen and (max-width: 767.95px) { #_R_63iudcaanpfiv65bH1_ { display: flex; } iframe { max-width: 100vw; } }Flagg edged his former Duke teammate to win the award Monday night after becoming the first rookie since Michael Jordan in 1984-85 to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists and steals.The 19-year-old Flagg and Knueppel were first and second in rookie scoring, the first former college teammates to do that since UConn stars Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon in 2004-05. Philadelphia’s VJ Edgecombe was the other finalist.Flagg and Knueppel traded places as betting favorites during the season, but Flagg’s 96-point outburst over two games on the second-to-last weekend might have tipped the scales. Flagg was the favorite going into the announcement.ALSO READ: Carolina Ascent names new presidentAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement#_R_68iudcaanpfiv65bH1_ { display: none; } @media screen and (max-width: 767.95px) { #_R_68iudcaanpfiv65bH1_ { display: flex; } iframe { max-width: 100vw; } }The first of those games was Flagg’s 51-point showing against Orlando,the first time a teenager…

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