Cooper Flagg Wins Nba 2025-26 Rookie Of The Year

The NBA announced on Monday night that Dallas Mavericks do-everything forward Rookie of the Year for the 2025-26 season. Flagg averaged 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.2 steals, 0.9 blocks, and 33.5 minutes per game in 70 games in 2025-26. He started every single game in his rookie campaign.

Flagg joins former Maverick Luka Doncic and current head coach Jason Kidd as award winners, with Doncic winning the 2018-19 season and Kidd splitting the award with Grant Hill during the 1994-95 season.

He became the third rookie of the last 45 years to average at least 20 points, six rebounds, and four assists, joining Michael Jordan and Luka Doncic. Flagg joins Michael Jordan as the only rookies to lead their teams in points, rebounds, assists, and steals since steals were added to the record book in 1973-74. He led all rookies in 25-point games, 30-point games, 35-point games, 40-point games, and had the first 50-point game for a rookie since Brandon Jennings.

It was a tightly contested race between Flagg and his former Duke roommate Kon Knueppel. Flagg finished with 55 first-place votes and 44 second-place votes. This narrowly edged out Knueppel in one of the more debated about Rookie of the Year races in several years.

Oddly, many in the national media, namely those who value advanced metrics, insisted that Knueppel was the Rookie of the Year and that the race was not remotely close. Of course, the final tally of votes says otherwise, but Knueppel did have a wildly efficient season, leading the league in made three pointers and helping lift a Charlotte Hornets team out of the league’s basement.

The argument for Kon boiled down to team success and efficiency. The argument for Flagg relied more on traditional counting stats paired with role; Flagg was the best Dallas player, thrust into that role after Anthony Davis went down and Kyrie Irving out for the season. What Mavericks fans were treated to was a rookie season that may well be better than Luka Doncic’s. Flagg scored 51 in a game!

In the end, the Rookie of the Year race was a bright spot for the hardcore Mavericks fans who stuck with the team despite many losses and occasional bad basketball. Hopefully, this award is the first of many at the NBA level for a player who seems on the path to superstardom.