Cooper Flagg Says It's ‘All Love’ Between Him and Kon Knueppel Amid Rookie of the Year Race

The former Duke teammates are the two favorites to win the coveted NBA award after two standout rookie seasons.

Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel are battling for the Rookie of the Year award. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

The top two picks for winning the 2025–26 NBA Rookie of the Year award happen to be former Duke teammates: Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel.

Entering this NBA season, it seemed highly likely that Flagg would run away with the award as the No. 1 pick. He shined in his sole college season, and he’s brought that star power to the NBA this season. However, his former Blue Devils teammate Knueppel has made history and stood out in the league as well. He’s made a strong case for himself to win the coveted award over Flagg.

Has this battle of sorts strained the relationship the former roommates have? Flagg admitted on Wednesday’s Pat McAfee Show that the friends don’t even discuss the Rookie of the Year conversation. But, they make sure to stay in contact with each other amid the busy NBA season.

“We don’t talk about [Rookie of the Year] specifically,” Flagg said. “We’ve definitely stayed in contact throughout the year and checked in on each other and kind of seen how each other are doing. It’s never been like ‘Oh, did you see the newest rookie ladder?’ or ‘Have you seen my game last night?’ or anything like that. It’s more just been love and support of each other. We’re just going to let whatever happens with that happen.”

"It's all love and support between me and Kon Knueppel..

I saw his work ethic last year and I knew what he was capable of" ~ @Cooper_Flagg #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/Aic7DYbfTv

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 1, 2026

The love and support comes from both sides. Knueppel recently spoke with Sports Illustrated’s Blake Silverman and shared how awesome it would be for one of them to win the award (which is virtually guaranteed at this point).

“It’s really cool,” Knueppel said. “I want to see [Flagg] do great things and obviously it would mean a ton to get that award. It’s always fun to get awards because you put a lot of time and effort in so that’d be a great honor. But it would also be cool to see Cooper get it, he works just as hard.”

It all comes down to April as the Rookie of the Year is expected to be announced at the end of this month. Will Flagg or Knueppel take home the award?

Cooper Flagg stats

The Mavericks rookie is averaging 20.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. His points average leads amongst the rookies in the league.

Flagg’s made NBA history on more than one occasion this season. He’s the only player other than LeBron James to score 35 points in a game at age 18, and he was the youngest to ever do so. Then, Flagg scored 49 points, which is the most scored by a player before they turned 20. He recently scored his 1,000th career point in only his 50th game becoming the second youngest player in NBA history to reach the mark behind James. He’s the ninth player in NBA history to reach 1,000 points, 300 rebounds and 200 assists over his first 50 games (only Michael Jordan and Luka Dončić have hit this mark since the NBA merger in 1976–77).

Kon Knueppel stats

The Hornets rookie is averaging 18.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.

His stats sit very close to Flagg’s, but where Knueppel stands out is at the three-point range. He’s averaging 43.1% from beyond the arc compared to Flagg’s 27.8%. Knueppel leads the entire NBA, not just rookies, with 257 three-pointers made. This is a huge milestone for a rookie in a league that thrives off of three-pointers. He now holds the record for the most three’s made by a rookie in a single season, and he still has six games left to continue adding to his total.

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