![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2246880814.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
DALLAS, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 12: Cooper Flagg #32 of the Dallas Mavericks walks backcourt during a game against the Phoenix Suns at American Airlines Center on November 12, 2025 in Dallas, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Stacy Revere\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
With the NBA<\/a> playoff race heating up, major awards and honors are inevitable.\u00a0<\/p>\n So much has been said about the coveted MVP race, but fans are quickly forgetting about the Rookie of the Year race featuring two dazzling first-year players battling it out.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dallas Mavericks<\/a> star Cooper Flagg<\/a> was the runaway favorite entering the year, but Charlotte Hornets<\/a> sharpshooting guard Kon Knueppel<\/a> has taken the league by storm.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s not every year NBA fans are privileged with two rookies fighting neck-and-neck for the award. The race perhaps hasn\u2019t been this tightly contested in several years.\u00a0<\/p>\n With less than two weeks left before the end of the regular season and the start of the play-in tournament, rookies have a matter of just days to win over voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n A lot can change in only a handful of games<\/p>\n Rising NBA superstar continues to lag behind familiar foe<\/p>\n Throughout the NBA season, the league\u2019s website has been revealing a weekly Rookie of the Year ladder.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now that we are in April and ready for spring, the second-to-last weekly ladder has been released, and Mavericks fans will again dread seeing the same name at the top.\u00a0<\/p>\n Knueppel, who was Flagg\u2019s college teammate at Duke, once again claims the No. 1 spot<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n For well over a month, Knuppel has edged out Flagg for the top spot. The Charlotte guard has contributed to an incredibly unsuspecting Hornets turnaround. The team has gone 29-14 since the turn of the calendar. That record would\u2019ve looked even better if it weren\u2019t for some recent losses.\u00a0<\/p>\n Charlotte is four games above .500 \u2014 something few would\u2019ve predicted before the season \u2014 and locked into the play-in tournament. The team has an outside chance of sneaking its way into the postseason, but it\u2019ll need to win two qualifying games first. That\u2019ll be tough but very doable considering all the Hornets have accomplished this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n GettyCharlotte Hornets\u2019 Kon Knueppel during a game against the New York Knicks<\/a> in November 2025<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Knueppel hasn\u2019t let his foot off the gas. He is averaging slightly under 19 points per game while shooting better than 43% from the 3-point line. In a recent game against the New York Knicks, Knueppel connected on six of 10 shots from beyond the arc.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whether Charlotte makes noise this April is beside the fact that Knueppel is a future cornerstone of his team. He\u2019ll be launching 3s for years to come.<\/p>\n Are Flagg\u2019s ROTY chances all but over?\u00a0<\/p>\n Flagg hasn\u2019t appeared atop NBA.com\u2019s ladder in many weeks. However, this ranking isn\u2019t a reflection of the actual voters. Flagg may sit behind his rookie counterpart in the race, but he could absolutely make up for lost ground over these final regular season games.<\/p>\n The 19-year-old Dallas star has been as good as advertised all season and produces over 20 points per game on a relatively efficient (by rookie standards) 46.7% shooting from the floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n What\u2019s helped drag down his case is team success, or lack thereof.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Mavericks are once again lottery-destined. They suffered their 52nd loss of the season the other night in an ugly 24-point beatdown at the hands of the drama-disturbed Milwaukee Bucks<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The fallout of the Luka Doncic<\/a> trade hasn\u2019t helped matters for Flagg. He still hears fans reminiscing about the good-old days, why Nico Harrison is the worst human being ever and the Mavs pulling off \u2014 as the kids like to call it \u2014 \u201ca generational sell.\u201d<\/p>\n Not only that, Flagg remains the only offensive creator on his team. Think about that. A rookie at the top of every opposing teams\u2019 defensive gameplan entering a game. They are all selling out on one player \u2014 because he doesn\u2019t really have much around him! \u2014 and Flagg\u2019s production is still borderline elite by veteran standards. He\u2019s a rookie.<\/p>\n In the end, the award may fall into Knueppel hands because he is simply in a position to play a more impactful team-oriented role, but that\u2019s not to say he isn\u2019t absolutely deserving of Rookie of the Year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Flagg and Knueppel will battle it out for just under two more weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n The race could get spicier by the day.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAdel Ahmad<\/a> Adel is a writer with over five years of experience covering the NBA. His work has appeared on various media platforms, both national and local. More about Adel Ahmad<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Mavericks\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty DALLAS, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 12: Cooper Flagg #32 of the Dallas Mavericks walks backcourt during a game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,166,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-692663","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-dallasmavericks","12":"tag-mavericks","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116331656588719942","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Kon](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1767093855_GettyImages-2248640445-e1767092613899.jpg\")
<\/p>\n