Along with the NBA Playoffs in full swing, the NBA's award season has seen the Rookie of the Year race be a two-horse race since the beginning of 2026. Ultimately, Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg won the award, finishing with 12 more first-place votes than Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel.

Cooper Flagg’s Huge Numbers Swing the Voters

It’s a weird result. Knueppel was the clear favorite with roughly 10 games to go in the regular season, but a few high-scoring games from Flagg, even in losses, really swung the voters at the end of the season. The way the swing in favor of Flagg came together just felt sudden, like it was the “Rookie of the Last Few Weeks Award” instead of Rookie of the Year.

Flagg had three games this season with over 40 points, and one of those games, he dropped 51, which is incredible from a player of his age, but even with the high-scoring outputs, Flagg only averaged 2.5 more points than Knueppel; it wasn’t to the point where Flagg’s stats were so overwhelmingly better that it should matter, especially with the history that Knueppel made this year.

Kon Knueppel’s Case for ROTY

Knueppel did something that no one’s ever done in the NBA, led the NBA in threes made as a rookie. Knueppel not only made the most threes in the league this year, but did it at a 43% clip, which is absurdly efficient.

Not only was Knueppel the first ever to do something in the league, but he was arguably the biggest factor in the turnaround that the Hornets made this year. Kon Knueppel wasn’t drafted into a good situation. The Hornets won 19 games last year and finished this year with 44 wins and a play-in spot in the Eastern Conference.

Knueppel didn’t just hit threes, though; he scored on all three levels of the floor and finished the season as one of the most efficient rookies of all time. The Hornets had the best offense in the NBA since January, and Knueppel's off-ball movement, efficiency, and consistency were a huge part of that.

The Problem With The ROTY Award

The criteria for the award is all over the place, if you value stats than yes Flagg has the award, but if you value efficiency, impact on winning, and making history, its Kon Knueppel. Another problem is that this isn’t the “who you think will be better in five years award.” The award should take the whole season into account.

The other problem with this year is that Knueppel was more available than Cooper Flagg was, and still lost. Knueppel missed only one game all season and remained as sharp and consistent as he was in the regular season.

The last issue is when the ballots are handed out, they’re handed out during the NBA Play-In Tournament, which definitely can sway voters’ opinions even though the awards are supposed to be based on the regular season.

Final Thoughts

Cooper Flagg is awesome, and will be for the foreseeable future, but for this season as a whole, Kon Knueppel’s impact shouldn’t be ignored, and over time, his impact will become more prominent and will gain more attention around the league.