Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel continues to lead the NBA in 3-pointers made and stays at the top of the Kia Rookie Ladder.

The closer we get to the end of the regular season, the more we hear from various precincts about the more deserving choice for Kia Rookie of the Year.

The two favorites, as they have been most of the season, are the Charlotte Hornets’ Kon Knueppel and the Dallas Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg. After the former Duke teammates, the Philadelphia 76ers’ VJ Edgecombe has been a fixture on the Kia Rookie Ladder’s No. 3 rung, neither rising nor facing any serious challenge for that spot.

Several NBA heavyweights reported in recently, sharing their takes on the hotly contested rookie race. A panel on Amazon Prime featured John Wall, Steve Nash and Blake Griffin all making arguments on Knueppel’s behalf.

“No one expected him to be as good as he is. He surprised everybody,” Wall said. “He should be clear-cut Rookie of the Year.”

Many, however, don’t concur. Former NBA wing Iman Shumpert likened this year’s Flagg-Knueppel battle to the one in 2004 when LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony both were putting up deserving numbers.

One parallel he noted: Knueppel is helping his team chase a playoff spot, similar to what Anthony did for Denver. Flagg’s team is lottery-bound, same as James’ Cavs at the end of his rookie season. Shumpert was hardly definitive in his breakdown of the race.

“I get that they have similar numbers,” he said, “and then you have to say that Kon, man, is in a different position where they are in a win-now. And that’s going to look a lot better. But all I’m going to say is when a race is like this, we’ve seen this similarly before, and … let’s be consistent when we start talking about it, because we gave it to Bron-Bron.”

A sense of James’ presumed greatness won out over Anthony’s team impact. Anthony scored more, rebounded more, and shot better across the board than James. The Nuggets won eight more games than Cleveland. Yet James got 78 first-place votes and 508 points to win the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy to Anthony’s 40 and 430.

Here is the latest edition of the Kia Rookie Ladder:

Weekly recap

When Flagg put up 27 points, six rebounds and 10 assists at Cleveland on Sunday, he became the second-youngest player in NBA history with such a performance (25+ points, 5+ rebounds and 10+ assists). James did it in December 2003, 10 days before turning 19.
Just as some rookies have faded – or been waylaid by injuries or held back by the max-games limit on two-way players – so have others perked up or seized opportunities down the stretch. Sacramento’s Nique Clifford and Washington’s Will Riley have logged the most minutes since Feb. 1. Utah’s Ace Bailey is the fifth in points per game (15.1) since that date. Kings’ center Maxime Raynaud (9.1) has grabbed the most rebounds, and Walter Clayton Jr. (6.2) has been the top assist man.
New Orleans center Derik Queen has seen his stats dip since Feb. 1, down to 10th in rebounding, 20th in assists and tied for 18th in scoring. He ranked first, second and seventh in those categories through Jan. 31. But the Pelicans’ 8-4 run in their last 12 games has taken some of the potential heat off their young big. Everyone knows the Pelicans traded their first-round pick to Atlanta for the chance to move up to select Queen. But as their lottery odds go down, there is less pressure on Queen to pay off like a No. 1, 2 or 3 pick.

Storyline to watch

From Flagg to checkered flag. Whatever lead Knueppel has in voters’ minds for ROY probably is a slim one, same as on the Ladder. Flagg missed eight games with a left foot sprain through and past the All-Star break, but now he’s been back for eight (18.9 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 6.6 apg, 2.2 spg+bpg). Both the Hornets and the Mavericks have 13 games remaining, as of Wednesday, plenty of time for one to get hot or overachieve enough to swing votes his way.

(All stats through Tuesday, March 17)

1. Kon Knueppel, Charlotte Hornets

Season stats: 19.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.4 apg
Last Ladder: No. 1 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 4

Knueppel continued his efficient ways in the Hornets’ blowout of Miami Tuesday, scoring 22 points in 23 minutes while making eight of his 14 shots. It was his 28th game this season, scoring 20+ while shooting 50% or better. The Charlotte forward added two more 3-pointers to his league-leading total of 238, on 43.7% accuracy.

2. Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks

Season stats: 20.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 4.5 apg
Last Ladder: No. 2 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 1

With guard Kyrie Irving ruled out for the remainder of the season, Mavs fans won’t get to see any two-man magic between him and Flagg. But Flagg told ESPN in an interview this week that Irving has been a valuable resource for him off the court, commiserating about the volume of losses most No. 1 picks tend to suffer. “I’d never lost that much in my life,” Flagg told Malika Andrews. “But just to hear him … tell me that I’m doing everything I need to be doing and just to stay with it and stay positive, it definitely helped me out a lot.”

3. VJ Edgecombe, Philadelphia 76ers

Season stats: 15.4 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 3.9 apg
Last Ladder: No. 3 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 3

Edgecombe finds ways to contribute nightly, whether scoring, defending or doing something else. A point of emphasis lately has been rebounding, and he’s averaging more than one extra board per game since the All-Star break. After he grabbed his season high of 12 against Portland Sunday, the rookie said: “They get on me about it. [Assistant coach Doug] West especially tells me I got to rebound. He’ll be like, you jump too high not to be able to grab rebounds. And that allows me to get into transition, or at least create something for somebody.”

4. Maxime Raynaud, Sacramento Kings

Season stats: 11.1 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.2 apg 
Last Ladder: No. 5 ⬆️
Draft pick: No. 42

Raynaud has inspired some comparisons to former Kings big men who announced their NBA arrivals with strong rookie seasons, such as DeMarcus Cousins, Marvin Bagley, Brian Grant and Jason Thompson. And the fact that he has done it out as the No. 42 pick makes it all the more impressive. His 23 points on 11-for-12 shooting Saturday, followed by a career-high 32 points Tuesday, are just the latest examples.

5. Dylan Harper, San Antonio Spurs

Season stats: 11.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.8 apg 
Last Ladder: No. 4 ⬇️
Draft pick: No. 2

Harper missed two games with a right calf contusion and was active Tuesday to face Sacramento. Teammate Victor Wembanyama recently paid Harper a compliment when addressing a mythical “re-draft” of the Class of 2025. “I have zero doubt that if there was a re-draft today, we would take him,” Wembanyama said. “He’s so good, so composed, I’m so happy that Dylan is super young and can be there for years and years because I want to share the court with him for as long as possible.”

The next 5

6. Cedric Coward, Memphis Grizzlies

Season stats: 13.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.8 apg
Last Ladder: No. 7 ⬆️
Draft pick: No. 11

The Grizzlies’ focus on the draft lottery and next season has prioritized developing the Washington State rookie’s skill set. “At his size, he is able to do some intriguing things,” Memphis coach Tuomas Iisalo said. “He is a good on-ball creator. You’ll see him go full court, get the rebound, which he is very good at for his position, [and] push down in three seconds. He’ll get to the rim on the other end and finish. Athletically, defensively, he makes some really rare plays for a 2-guard where he is coming from the weakside and blocking centers that are trying to finish inside.”

7. Ace Bailey, Utah Jazz

Season stats: 12.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.7 apg
Last Ladder: No. 8 ⬆️
Draft pick: No. 5

Bailey was off to a fast start against Portland on Friday (eight points in seven minutes, flawless shooting) when he suffered a concussion and was lost for the night and for Sunday’s game at Sacramento. He was still listed as questionable for the Jazz’s game on Wednesday at Minnesota.

8. Derik Queen, New Orleans Pelicans 

Season stats: 11.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 3.8 apg
Last Ladder: No. 6 ⬇️
Draft pick: No. 13

It was a rough week for Queen, who averaged just four points, five rebounds and 15.8 minutes while shooting 30% overall. If only New Orleans played Dallas more often — Queen averaged 14.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists in their four meetings with the Mavs.

9. Jeremiah Fears, New Orleans Pelicans 

Season stats: 13.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.2 apg
Last Ladder: No. 9 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 9

Fears turned in one of his best games Monday vs. Dallas, with 17 points, six boards, five assists and a plus-18, one of only seven in double digits in the black (compared to 23 in the minus pool by 10 or more).

10. Javon Small, Memphis Grizzlies 

Season stats: 8.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.8 apg
Last Ladder: Not ranked ⬆️
Draft pick: No. 48

A moribund season for Memphis hasn’t gotten in the way of Small’s development. The 23-year-old point guard from South Bend, Indiana — along with three high schools and three college teams — has made the most of his reps. He has had 11 of his 13 double-digit scoring games and logged 401 of his 607 minutes since Feb. 1.

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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.