BY ALEJANDRO LOPEZ
About a year ago, Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel were dominating college basketball for coach Jon Scheyer and the Duke Blue Devils.
On Thursday, the two NBA rookies are competing head-to-head in a matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and Charlotte Hornets as the leading candidates for the NBA Rookie of the Year award.
Flagg has shown flashes of being the ideal modern NBA wing. At 6-foot-9 the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft does everything on both ends of the floor. He is on pace to be the first rookie to lead his team in total points, rebounds, assists and steals since Michael Jordan. He is averaging 18.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 4.1 assists for Dallas in a rookie campaign that has been asked good as advertised.
Knueppel, while not being as highly touted as his teammate coming into the draft, is proving he was worth every bit of the fourth overall selection on draft night and maybe more. The 6-foot-7 guard has proven to be not just one of the best shooters in his draft class, but one of the best shooters in the entire NBA. He is averaging 18.8 points for a Charlotte Hornets team who is beginning to show some promise.
Knueppel is on pace to becoming the fifth rookie in NBA history to finish top-5 in total 3-pointers made in a season, alongside Damian Lillard, Jason Williams, Dennis Scott and Larry Bird.
In a promising rookie class featuring players such as VJ Edgecombe, Derik Queen and Cedric Coward among many others, these two Blue Devils have risen above the rest and have shown they have what it takes to be very good for a very long time.
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