Dallas Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg edged former Duke teammate Kon Knueppel to win the NBA Rookie of the Year award Monday night.
Flagg set a host of records for an NBA teenager in an otherwise difficult season for the Mavericks. He became the first rookie since Michael Jordan in 1984-85 to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists and steals. That and other teenage accolades were enough to secure the award, while Knueppel powered the Charlotte Hornets to a 25-win improvement that nearly delivered a playoff berth.
The 19-year-old Flagg and Knueppel finished first and second in rookie scoring, the first former college teammates to do so since UConn’s Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon in 2004-05. Philadelphia’s VJ Edgecombe was the other finalist.
“I see the games every night. I can check the box scores,” Flagg said when asked how closely he followed Knueppel during the season. “I think also I was watching Kon just because that’s one of my brothers. We had such a good connection, and we’re gonna be there for each other for the rest of our lives. I was watching him as a fan as well, but there was obviously that competition at the same time.”
The rookie award was the sixth NBA award announced since the regular season ended.
The others
– San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama was the unanimous Defensive Player of the Year.
– Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander received 96 of a possible 100 first-place votes to win the Clutch Player of the Year award.
– San Antonio’s Keldon Johnson won Sixth Man of the Year.
– Boston’s Derrick White won the Sportsmanship Award, which is selected solely by active players.
– Atlanta’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker won Most Improved Player.
– MVP (between Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama or Denver’s Nikola Jokic) and Coach of the Year (between Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff, San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson or Boston’s Joe Mazzulla) announcements are still to come.
– The NBA will announce Executive of the Year, the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year and the Hustle Award later this week.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City into the Western Conference semi-finals, scoring 31 points as the Thunder beat the Phoenix Suns 131-122 on Monday night, completing a four-game sweep in the first-round series. Chet Holmgren added 24 points.
The Thunder, who have gone 12-0 in the first round over the past three seasons, will face the winner of the Los Angeles Lakers–Houston Rockets series in the Western Conference semi-finals. The Lakers lead that series 3-1, though the Rockets claimed Game 4.