The 2025-26 NBA regular season is just days away from the one-month mark, meaning it\u2019s time for NBA Draft on SI\u2019s first in-house rookie ladder of the season.<\/p>\n
The 2025 NBA Draft class has gotten off to a hot start, with a myriad of newbies already making impacts for their respective teams. Below is our top-10 as of Nov. 17, though there\u2019s plenty more time for rookies to make their mark this season:<\/p>\n
1. Kon Knueppel, Hornets<\/p>\n
Drafted at No. 4, Knueppel was largely seen as a great selection for Charlotte, though few expected him to get off to this hot of a start.<\/p>\n
He leads all rookies in scoring so far, averaging 17.2 points on 46% shooting, looking more like the Hornets star of the future than just a catch-and-shoot threat next to the team\u2019s other stars.<\/p>\n
His season is so far highlighted by a 32-point outing in his hometown of Milwaukee.<\/p>\n
2. Cooper Flagg, Mavericks\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flagg has seen a mildly underwhelming start in the NBA, though one that\u2019s lessened by the myriad of factors working against him. The Mavericks are a mess, he\u2019s still 18, and is dealing with more pressure than most rookies on defense.<\/p>\n
Despite that, he\u2019s still averaging a second-best 15.6 points on 44% shooting, not to mention 6.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s abundantly clear Flagg will be just fine.<\/p>\n
3. VJ Edgecombe, 76ers<\/p>\n
Edgecombe has cooled off following a blistering start for the 76ers, but that shouldn\u2019t stop anyone from seeing his potential.<\/p>\n
Across 12 games he\u2019s still averaging 15.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists, looking very much like a piece Philadelphia should invest in long-term.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s maybe a few more things to wrinkle out than previously thought, though the bones of a potential star are still there.<\/p>\n
4. Cedric Coward, Grizzlies<\/p>\n
Coward\u2019s been a revelation for the Grizzlies so far. He was a mystery box having played just six games collegiately last year, but has already gotten off to a blistering start in the pros.<\/p>\n
He has claim to being the best two-way rookie so far, averaging 14.0 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting 48% overall and 37% from three.<\/p>\n
Memphis has never been shy about playing youngsters, and Coward fits right in.<\/p>\n
5. Jeremiah Fears, Pelicans<\/p>\n
Few expected Jeremiah Fears to be this good, this early. But he\u2019s been stellar for a Pelicans team that desperately needs good news of any kind.<\/p>\n
Fears\u2019 14.6 points per game has certainly been good news, not to mention his defense has been better than advertised. On Saturday night, he claimed a record eight steals.<\/p>\n
6. Ryan Kalkbrenner, Hornets<\/p>\n
7. Tre Johnson, Wizards<\/p>\n
8. Derik Queen, Hawks<\/p>\n
9. Dylan Harper, Spurs<\/p>\n
10. Will Richards, Warriors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025-26 NBA regular season is just days away from the one-month mark, meaning it\u2019s time for NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-288947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}