Kings’ rookie Maxime Raynaud used a big game vs. New Orleans to help fuel his rise into the Ladder’s Top 5.
Dallas’ Cooper Flagg and Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel have been friendly rivals this season while in pursuit of early NBA success, the top two spots here on the Kia Rookie Ladder and eventually on media voters’ ballots for the 2025-26 Kia Rookie of the Year award.
Makes sense, it wouldn’t turn nasty – the two first-year forwards were teammates and roommates at Duke last season. Both have shown maturity and skill sets beyond their years and their respective teams are delighted with their current and likely future contributions.
Their seasons are hardly symmetrical, however. Flagg has already been given the keys to the Mavericks’ future. Any notion of him easing along behind veterans Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson ended officially with Davis’ trade last week to the Washington Wizards. Irving still is hurt and Thompson is 36, leaving Flagg to fly, if not solo, then with limited mentorship or cover.
To his credit, the Dallas rookie sounds like one Flagg that’s unflappable.
“I’m just gonna go out there every night and try to be consistent and try to be the best version of myself,” he said the other day. “Whatever that looks like, whoever is out there with me, I hope we just compete at a very high level.”
Knueppel’s reality in Charlotte is quite different. He has shown himself to be a deadly jump shooter with range well beyond the arc and is fundamentally sound at both ends. The Hornets have a core of young vets – LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges – and Knueppel’s game has deferred to theirs. He is fourth on the team in field-goal attempts (13.4) and third in 3-point attempts (7.9) despite already being his team’s best shooter.
Another difference: team success. The Hornets just had their nine-game winning streak ended, but at 25-29 appear to be chasing either a SoFi Play-In Tournament or a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Mavericks, meanwhile, just lost their eighth in a row Tuesday, falling at Phoenix 120-111 despite Flagg’s 27 points.
Dallas ranks 27th in offensive efficiency, 22nd in net rating, and is more focused on lottery chances to add another promising young piece.
Said Flagg: “It’s been different than what I expected. Just doing the best I can. It was tough at first. … It still is. I’m a competitor, but I think for me, it’s about learning from the losses as much as I can.”
This week’s ranking of rung-holders can be found below:
Weekly recap
- It took Brooklyn’s Nolan Traoré a little longer to get some traction, relative to his rookie teammates. But the pure point guard had a strong week, with 21 points and seven assists at Orlando, then 13 points and 13 assists vs. Chicago on Monday. Asked about the keys to Traoré’s emergence, Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said: “Speed and paint touches. That’s what he creates for us, whether it’s getting to the rim or touching the paint and spraying the ball to teammates.”
- Only three rookies have put up 30 points, two steals and two blocked shots in a game this season. You probably figured Flagg as one, and some may have guessed Derik Queen as another. But the third? Nique Clifford, Sacramento’s 24-year-old shooting guard, was picked 24th in June. Clifford vs. Cleveland: 30 points, two steals, two blocks, on 12-for-19 shooting, joining Queen and Flagg as the only rookies with 30/2s/2b in a game this season. Clifford, from Colorado Springs, never had scored more than 18 before hitting 12-of-19 shots, five of his nine tries from the arc, to reach 30 Saturday against the Cavs.
- Dylan Cardwell is another Kings rookie trying not to get bogged down in the team’s dreary 12-43 season. Said the 6-foot-10 center from Auburn: “In college, I averaged five points per game, I rebounded the ball five times per game. I averaged like 1.6 blocks per game. No one thought I was an NBA player. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m living my childhood dream.” Sacramento rewarded Cardwell days ago, upgrading him from a two-way deal to a four-year standard contract.
- Toronto’s Collin Murray-Boyles was poised for another climb into the Ladder’s Top 10 until he aggravated a left thumb injury Sunday against Indiana. He had averaged 10.7 points on 78.9% shooting before getting hurt last week.
Storyline to watch
The ABA had rookies, too. In honor of the documentary premiering on Amazon Prime Thursday – “Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association” – the Ladder wanted to acknowledge the Rookies of the Year in that upstart league that operated from 1966-76.
The ABA angered a lot of NBA owners by competing for talent, offering some splashy contracts in a bidding war with the more established league. It’s fair to say that, had all of the following players gone directly into the NBA, its own list of Rookie of the Year winners would look different in a few years.
The ABA’s first rookie honoree was Mel Daniels of the short-lived Minnesota Muskies, who went on to lead the Indiana Pacers to three titles in four years. Then came Warren Jabali of the Oakland Oaks (1969) and Spencer Haywood of the Denver Rockets (’70).
Virginia’s Charlies Scott and Kentucky’s Dan Issel tied for the award in ’71. After that, the ABA’s top rookies were Artis Gilmore of the Kentucky Colonels (’72), Brian Taylor of the New York Nets (’73), Swen Nater of Virginia/San Antonio (’74, as the only ROY winner in either league to be traded in season), Marvin Barnes of St. Louis (’75) and finally David Thompson of Denver (’76). Daniels, Haywood, Scott, Issel, Gilmore and Thompson all wound up in the Hall of Fame.
(All stats through Tuesday, Feb. 10)
1. Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks
Season stats: 20.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 4.2 apg
Last Ladder: No. 1 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 1
It’s simply a quirk of the calendar that Flagg’s remarkable scoring streak ended Thursday, one day after that week’s Ladder got posted. But it’s worth revisiting his four games against Charlotte (49), Houston (34), Boston (36) and San Antonio (32). He totaled 151 points, the first rookie since Allen Iverson in 1997 to reach 150+ in four. He became the youngest player in league history to stack up four straight of 30 points or more. And the last rookie to have at least 30 points and five rebounds in four straight was Michael Jordan.
2. Kon Knueppel, Charlotte Hornets
Season stats: 18.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.5 apg
Last Ladder: No. 2 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 4
The Hornets’ small forward will take on seven veterans in the State Farm 3-Point Contest on All-Star Saturday. No rookie has won the event, but Knueppel surely has the credentials. If 11 of his missed shots had gone in thus far, and just one of his errant free throws, he would be shooting 50/40/90, the realm of the NBA’s elite marksmen. As it is, 48.5/42.8/89.9 has him on the brink.
3. VJ Edgecombe, Philadelphia 76ers
Season stats: 14.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4.2 apg
Last Ladder: No. 3 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 3
Edgecombe’s shot came and went on the Sixers’ just-completed five-game West Coast swing. But he continued to draw admirers, including Lakers coach JJ Redick, beyond their brotherhood of the initials fraternity. “It starts with just, he’s not afraid,” Redick told reporters. “He’s hit big shots all year for them. He takes on whatever challenge is in front of him and he’s a really good, highly skilled offensive player who also competes on the defensive end, crashes.”
4. Derik Queen, New Orleans Pelicans
Season stats: 12.2 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 4.2 apg
Last Ladder: No. 4 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 13
The Pelicans’ recent 5-4 stretch has quelled unease from some New Orleans fans who feel Queen is being underutilized. His major stats in the nine games (11 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 3.3 apg) are all down from his season numbers. His playing time was cut back, too. A healthier crew means minutes get scarce, but Queen is averaging 27.3 minutes per game in February after logging 29.2 mpg in December.
5. Maxime Raynaud, Sacramento Kings
Season stats: 9.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.0 apg
Last Ladder: No. 8 ⬆️
Draft pick: No. 42
The X post from NBA France got properly translated for folks on this side of the pond. But a simple “Sacre bleu!” would have worked too. Raynaud turned in his best Domantas Sabonis impersonation yet with 21 points and 19 rebounds in the Kings’ loss at New Orleans on Monday. The 22-year-old Frenchman ranks 11th among his Draft class in total points, third in rebounds and ninth in blocks, serious sleeper stuff for a guy chosen 42nd.
The next 5
6. Cedric Coward, Memphis Grizzlies
Season stats: 13.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.9 apg
Last Ladder: No. 5 ⬇️
Draft pick: No. 11
Rough week for Coward, whose output flagged with his court time. He missed Saturday’s game at Portland with a sore right shoulder, then couldn’t return for the second half against Golden State on Monday after banging knees with teammate GG Jackson in the second quarter.
7. Egor Dëmin, Brooklyn Nets
Season stats: 10.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.3 apg
Last Ladder: No. 6 ⬇️
Draft pick: No. 8
In 33 games with BYU last season, Dëmin made 42 3-point field goals. In 45 appearances for the Nets, he has 113. How does a guy go from 27.3% accuracy from the shorter NCAA distance, then up his rate to 39.5%? The same way you’d get to Carnegie Hall: Practice. The Moscow native credited his personal coach, Zach Gonzales, after a recent game. “He’s definitely one of the biggest reasons why my shooting is so much better right now,” Dëmin said. “I’ve just been shooting a lot. That’s kind of the key.”
8. Dylan Harper, San Antonio Spurs
Season stats: 10.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.6 apg
Last Ladder: No. 9 ⬆️
Draft pick: No. 2
Landing with a good team as a top lottery pick has its advantages (a slick plus-139 compared to Flagg’s rough minus-165, for instance) and its challenges. Harper is getting on the floor less than the eight players picked before or after him, but he’s helping the Spurs in myriad ways. Like on the glass.
9. Ace Bailey, Utah Jazz
Season stats: 11.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.6 apg
Last Ladder: No. 10 ⬆️
Draft pick: No. 5
Bailey held up pretty well through a wearying five-game trip and the fourth-quarter white flags. He averaged 13.8 points and 6.4 boards on the trip and is second among rookies with 55 dunks, trailing Charlotte’s Ryan Kalkbrenner’s 81.
10. Caleb Love, Portland Trail Blazers
Season stats: 11.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.7 apg
Last Ladder: No. 7 ⬇️
Draft pick: Undrafted
On a two-way contract after going undrafted, Love has gotten squeezed lately by the return of healthier teammates and that 50-game limit for guys of his status. His production has dipped with these opportunities. “I kind of knew once everybody got healthy that they were going to get their shine,” the Blazers guard said. “But I’m just going to keep chopping wood, keep coming, being professional, putting in work and just staying ready.”
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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
