Dallas Mavericks No. 1 overall draft pick Cooper Flagg was once the overwhelming favorite to win NBA Rookie of the Year, but the award seems to be slipping through his fingers amid a disastrous season for the team.
Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel, who played with Flagg at Duke, is now the -240 favorite at FanDuel to claim the rookie honor, which implies that he has a 70.6% possibility of winning. A bettor would have to wager $240 on Knueppel to profit $100 on his winning the award.
Flagg is +185, meaning a bettor could wager $100 to profit $185.
Flagg was a massive -800 favorite at the All-Star break (88.9% chance of winning), but Knueppel has slowly overtaken Flagg, seemingly tied to their teams’ divergent fortunes.
Charlotte (39-36) is in 10th place in the Eastern Conference and is guaranteed to at least be in the playoff play-in tournament. Dallas (24-51) is 13th out of 15 teams in the Western Conference and is 3-15 since Feb. 24. The Mavericks effectively punted on their season after trading 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis to Washington on Feb. 4.
For the season, Flagg, a forward who can play virtually any position, is averaging 20.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.9 blocks while shooting 47.4%. Knueppel, the No. 4 overall pick, is averaging 18.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.2 blocks while shooting 48.4%.
Besides team performance, one clear edge for Knueppel comes at the 3-point line, where he is shooting 43.3% to Flagg’s 28.6.
The Mavericks have seven games left for Flagg to try to make a last-ditch push for the award.
Game schedule dates, times, locations March 21 L.A. Clippers 138, Mavericks 131 (OT) March 23 Golden State 137, Mavericks 131 (OT) March 25 Denver 142, Mavericks 135 March 27 Mavericks 100, Portland 93 March 30 Minnesota 124, Mavericks 94 March 31 at Milwaukee, 7 p.m., KFAA, MavsTV April 3 vs. Orlando, 7:30 p.m., KFAA, MavsTV April 5 vs. L.A. Lakers, 6:30 p.m., NBC, Peacock April 7 at L.A. Clippers, 9:30 p.m., KFAA, MavsTV April 8 at Phoenix, 9 p.m., KFAA, MavsTV March 7 TCU 73, Cincinnati 63 Big 12 Tournament (at Kansas City, Mo.) March 11 No. 6 TCU 95, No. 14 Oklahoma State 88 (second round) March 12 No. 3 Kansas 78, No. 6 TCU 73 (quarterfinals) NCAA Tournament (at Greenville, S.C.) March 19 No. 9 TCU 66, No. 8 Ohio State 64 (first round) March 21 No. 1 Duke 81, No. 9 TCU 58 (second round) March 1 TCU 65, Baylor 53 Big 12 Tournament (at Kansas City, Mo.) March 6 No. 1 TCU 63, No. 9 BYU 46 (quarterfinals) March 7 No. 1 TCU 74, No. 12 Kansas State 62 (semifinals) March 8 No. 2 West Virginia 62, No. 1 TCU 53 (championship) NCAA Tournament Opening rounds (at Schollmaier Arena) March 20 No. 3 TCU 86, No. 14 UC San Diego 40 (first round) March 22 No. 3 TCU 62, No. 6 Washington 59 (OT) (second round) Sacramento Regional March 28 No. 3 TCU 79, No. 10 Virginia 69 (Sweet 16) March 30 No. 1 South Carolina 78, No. 3 TCU 52 (Elite Eight) March 26 Philadelphia 5, Rangers 3 March 28 Rangers 5, Philadelphia 4 (10 innings) March 29 Rangers 8, Philadelphia 3 March 30 Rangers 5, Baltimore 2 March 31 at Baltimore, 5:35 p.m., RSN April 1 at Baltimore, 11:35 a.m., RSN April 3 vs. Cincinnati, 3:05 p.m., RSN April 4 vs. Cincinnati, 6:05 p.m., RSN April 5 vs. Cincinnati, 1:35 p.m., RSN March 20 Central Florida 18, TCU 7 March 21 TCU 6, Central Florida 0 March 22 Central Florida 9, TCU 1 March 24 TCU 11, Dallas Baptist 5 March 27 TCU 18, Texas Tech 8 (7 innings) March 28 TCU 10, Texas Tech 9 (13 innings) March 29 TCU 5, Texas Tech 4 March 31 vs. Lamar, 6 p.m., ESPN+ April 3 at Kansas State, 6 p.m., ESPN+ April 4 at Kansas State, 4 p.m., ESPN+ April 5 at Kansas State, 1 p.m., ESPN+ April 7 at Abilene Christian, 6 p.m., ESPN+ March 22 Vegas 3, Stars 2 March 24 New Jersey 6, Stars 4 March 26 N.Y. Islanders 2, Stars 1 March 28 Stars 6, Pittsburgh 3 March 29 Philadelphia 2, Stars 1 (OT) March 31 at Boston, 6 p.m., Fox, Victory+ April 2 vs. Winnipeg, 7 p.m., Victory+ April 4 vs. Colorado, 2 p.m., ABC April 7 vs. Calgary, 7 p.m., Victory+ April 9 vs. Minnesota, 8 p.m., ESPN+, Hulu 2026 season Aug. 29 vs. North Carolina (at Dublin), TBA Sept. 12 vs. Grambling State, TBA Sept. 19 vs. Arkansas State, TBA Sept. 26 at Central Florida, TBA Oct. 3 vs. BYU, TBA Oct. 17 at Baylor, TBA Oct. 24 vs. West Virginia, TBA Oct. 31 vs. Kansas, TBA Nov. 7 at Arizona, TBA Nov. 14 vs. Kansas State, TBA Nov. 21 vs. Utah, TBA Nov. 28 at Texas Tech, TBA 2026 season TBA vs. TBA (at Rio de Janeiro), TBA 2026 opponents (dates and times TBA; one home game will be in Rio) vs. N.Y Giants vs. Philadelphia vs. Washington vs. Arizona vs. San Francisco vs. Tampa Bay vs. Jacksonville vs. Tennessee vs. Baltimore at N.Y Giants at Philadelphia at Washington at L.A. Rams at Seattle at Green Bay at Houston at Indianapolis Feb. 21 FC Dallas 3, Toronto 2 Feb. 28 FC Dallas 0, Nashville 0 March 7 LAFC 1, FC Dallas 0 March 14 FC Dallas 3, San Diego 3 March 21 FC Dallas 4, Houston 3 April 4 at D.C. United, 6:30 p.m., Apple TV April 11 vs. St. Louis, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV April 18 vs. LA Galaxy, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV April 22 vs. Minnesota, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV April 25 at Seattle, 9:30 p.m., Apple TV April 11 NASCAR Racing Experience April 18 Team Texas-David Starr’s Racing School April 18 Bubble Run April 23-25 Pate Swap Meet April 25 FuelFest April 30-May 2 High Limit Racing Stockyard Stampede May 1 NASCAR Truck Series: SpeedyCash.com 250 May 2 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series: Andy’s Frozen Custard 340 May 3 NASCAR Cup Series: Wurth 400
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Jim Barnes is the Star-Telegram’s sports editor. A Fort Worth native and graduate of Castleberry High School, he returned to Texas after 13 years at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He previously was sports editor of the Waco Tribune-Herald and a freelance high school sports reporter for The Dallas Morning News.