{"id":482061,"date":"2026-02-18T02:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T02:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482061\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T02:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T02:47:08","slug":"former-nba-all-star-and-champion-picks-kon-knueppel-as-his-rookie-of-the-year-over-flagg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482061\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NBA All-Star and champion picks Kon Knueppel as his Rookie of the Year over Flagg"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025-26 season has seen its fair share of fantastic rookie players. Cooper Flagg leads the way for both the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> and the entire rookie class as the most promising first-year player. He came into the league with considerable hype from Duke University, and he has delivered.<\/p>\n

At the same time, his Duke teammate Kon Knueppel has also been superb with the Charlotte Hornets<\/a>. He is one of the league’s sharpshooters as a rookie, which is quite impressive. They are performing at the top level, and now, the old college roommates are competing for Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n

Teague picks Knueppel over Flagg in the ROY race<\/p>\n

It is a fun contrast between the two college teammates because they have different play styles. Flagg is more of a well-rounded player because he is elite on defense, and his offense has been superb with self-creation and athleticism.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Knueppel is the optimal offensive player with his elite three-point shooting and off-ball movement. Both players have high basketball IQ, which has made their transition into the NBA seamless.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Giannis Antetokounmpo praises Kon Knueppel: ‘One of the smartest rookies I\u2019ve ever seen’<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moving forward, they appear to be the biggest contenders for the Rookie of the Year award. Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> guard VJ Edgecombe would have played spoiler, but he is not close to the two former Duke Blue Devils.<\/p>\n

This has led to a debate throughout the NBA community between Knueppel and Flagg. Former NBA All-Star and champion Jeff Teague has said that he is picking Knueppel over Flagg.<\/p>\n

“I think Cooper Flagg’s having a good rookie year, a phenomenal rookie year actually, but it comes with a lot of opportunity. The reason I think Kon Knueppel’s year is better is because he’s with some gunners, and he’s not supposed to be doing what he’s doing,” Teague said on his Club 520 show<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He brings up a good point regarding the pressure that the Hornets<\/a> are playing under compared to the Mavericks<\/a>. Charlotte is playing more important games because the team is in the middle of a postseason race, while the Mavericks are well outside the postseason spots.<\/p>\n

Knueppel might have the edge there, but at the end of the day, this will come down to the voters’ preferences. Teague has Knueppel over Flagg, but a lot of other people will disagree. However, it cannot be denied that they are the top two this season.<\/p>\n

More NBA news:\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025-26 season has seen its fair share of fantastic rookie players. Cooper Flagg leads the way for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-482061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482061","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=482061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}