Knueppel Shares Honest Reaction After Falling Short of Rookie of the Year Award

The Rookie of the Year debate usually doesn't draw that much attention in the NBA because, in most years, it's pretty clear who the winner should be. One guy typically separates himself from the pack by a wide margin, and the "race" is over by the turn of the calendar.

Not this year.

Cooper Flagg was viewed as the heavy favorite after going No. 1 overall to the Dallas Mavericks in last year's draft, and while he played well in the first half of the season, his former college teammate, Kon Knueppel, was going off, doing some unexpected things in his first season with the Charlotte Hornets.

There for a while, it felt like Knueppel was well on his way to winning the award, but the last couple of weeks leading up to the announcement, it seemed like a toss-up again. Flagg won a tight vote and, in a recent podcast appearance with NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., he explained his thoughts on just falling short of taking home the award.

He came so close to winning NBA ROTY. 🏀 pic.twitter.com/cYCQb5u8QH
— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) May 13, 2026

“Obviously, I wanted to win it," Knueppel said. "I felt that if you would have told me at the beginning of the season this is how your season would go, I would have taken it 100%. I went into the day of them announcing it in the morning, I was like, I can’t do anything about it now. I did all I could. I would’ve felt a little bit bad about it if I was like, ah man, I left some stuff out there, but I felt like I did all I could. Wish I could have shot it better at the end of the season, but I did all I could, so I was willing to live with the result. I felt like I had a really, really good season. I felt like I was deserving. I would have won it in a lot of different years. And I thought Cooper was also very deserving. He had a great year.”

Why the award should have been Kon's

Apr 17, 2026; Orlando, Florida, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel (7) shoots during the second half against the Orlando Magic during the play-in rounds of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images | Mike Watters-Imagn Images

Knueppel was the clear favorite to win the award just before he entered a late-season shooting slump that carried over into the Play-In Tournament. In his final six regular season games in April, he shot just 39% from the field and 34% from three. Against Miami and Orlando in the Play-In, he combined to shoot 5/22 from the floor and 1/12 from downtown. If you ask most, they believe his performance in the final two weeks, plus the Play-In, plus Flagg dropping 51 (in a loss), is what cost him the award.

Flagg's season was special, sure, but Knueppel played a massive part in taking the Hornets from a perennial lottery team to one that has arguably one of the brightest futures in the entire NBA. Losing the award because of his performance in two games that Flagg and his team didn't even have the opportunity to play in, because they weren't good enough, doesn't make a lot of sense.

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