Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel have been named the Kia NBA Western and Eastern Conference Rookies of the Month for January.
You have to go back seven years to find a stretch in which two young players dominated the NBA’s Kia Rookie of the Month conference honors as completely as Dallas’ Cooper Flagg and Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel have this season.
In the spring of 2018-19, Luka Dončić (then with the Dallas Mavericks) and Trae Young (then with the Atlanta Hawks) each snagged three in a row from January through March, the former in the West, the latter in the East. Flagg and Knueppel have done that so far in 2025-26, their selections announced Tuesday.
When it came time for voters to cast ballots for the Kia Rookie of the Year award, however, that appearance of a neck-and-neck race for the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy turned out to be anything but.
Dončić ran away with the award, getting 98 of 100 first-place votes and finishing with 496 points. Young got the other two firsts and was way back with 301 points.
That pattern won’t necessarily hold for Flagg and Knueppel, but it was clear over the past week that the top spot on the Kia Rookie Ladder would flip back to Flagg. The Mavericks’ forward has been carrying his dinged-up team like a cornerstone guy.
Since returning from a sore left ankle, Flagg has scored 49, 34 and 36 points in games against Charlotte, Houston and Boston, respectively. He grabbed 31 rebounds, dished 14 assists and made 45 of 78 shots (57.7%). He became the first teenager in league history to string together three games of 30 points or more.
That gives Flagg six games scoring at least 30 to Knueppel’s four (the rest of the Class of 2025 has a total of four). The only downside to this hot stretch for Flagg has been losing all three games.
The showdown of the Ladder’s top two rung-holders Thursday was thrilling, both in real time and for what it portends for the next decade or so. Teammates and roommates at Duke last season, they could form an affable rivalry built on their individual competition as well as their teams’ rising fortunes.
Kon Knueppel knocks down free throws with 4.1 seconds remaining before Cooper Flagg missed the game-tying jumper as time expired.
Knueppel’s crew has won seven in a row and is 12-6 in 2026. The Mavericks have sputtered but have hopes based on healing players. Knueppel scored 34 that night in Dallas so their combined 83 points were the most by opposing rookies since Tiny Archibald and Pete Maravich rang up 91 in March 1971.
And arguably the best moment of the night came from Flagg when he proved “the book,” and voice-of-the-Hornets Eric Collins wrong.
Afterward, each had nothing but kudos for the other (like here and here), expressing admiration shared by many around the league.
Let the record show their rematch is set for March 3 in Charlotte, in what conceivably could be a pivotal game for ROY consideration.
Here are the latest rankings on this week’s Ladder:
Weekly recap
- For what it’s worth, the last time just two guys hogged all the Kia Rookie of the Month acclaim through a season was in 2003-04, when Cleveland’s LeBron James and Denver’s Carmelo Anthony kept all others in their draft class from winning any.
- A couple bad takes from savvy former players: Udonis Haslem on Amazon Prime quibbled with Flagg and Knueppel, favoring Philadelphia’s VJ Edgecombe for being a “two-way player.” In fact, Flagg’s aggressive defense has been one of the surprising constants in his play this season. Then there was Jamal Mashburn suggesting that Flagg, if he were coming out of college this spring in the deep Class of 2026, would not be a Top 5 selection. Given what the Dallas savior has done as a 19-year-old against grown men this season, it seems like a gross underestimation.
- The first five players chosen last June are in this week’s Ladder, as are six of the top eight selections and eight lottery picks. But the elite company also features a second-round pick (Maxime Raynaud) and someone the talent scouts whiffed on completely (Caleb Love).
Storyline to watch
Rising coaches at All-Star Weekend. San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson was named one of the coaches of the three All-Star squads to compete in the USA vs. International tournament on All-Star Sunday. That put him in rare company as Johnson earned the honor in his first full season on the Spurs’ sideline (he took over for legend Gregg Popovich five games into 2024-25).
As for “true rookies” who have coached in the showcase game, Golden State’s Steve Kerr was the most recent, getting there in the 2015 game in his debut season as an NBA coach, on his way to leading the Warriors to a 67-15 record and the first of four championships in eight years. Other “true rookie” All-Star coaches include Larry Bird (1998), Paul Westphal (1993), Chris Ford (1991) and Billy Cunningham (1978).
Cleveland’s Tyronne Lue was an All-Star coach in 2016 after taking over when David Blatt was fired in January with a 30-11 record. In 1982, Pat Riley coached the first of his eight All-Star games as the Lakers’ replacement for fired Paul Westhead. That’s the same way Ed Macauley got there in 1959, taking over for Andy Phillip early in the season.
When Avery Johnson went in 2006, it was like the Spurs coach – his first full season after taking over Dallas’ reins the year before.
(All stats through Tuesday, Feb. 3)
1. Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks
Season stats: 20.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 4.2 apg
Last Ladder: No. 2 ⬆️
Draft pick: No. 1
Even before he put up 36 points on 12-for-24 shooting vs. the Celtics on Tuesday, Flagg had accomplished some statistical achievements. His 83 points and 22 boards on 61.1% shooting in consecutive outings against Charlotte and Houston matched Hall of Famers Bob McAdoo (March, 1973) and Walt Bellamy (January, 1962) as the only rookies to reach those marks over a two-game span.
2. Kon Knueppel, Charlotte Hornets
Season stats: 18.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.6 apg
Last Ladder: No. 1
Draft pick: No. 4
Knueppel seems a lock to set a record for most 3-pointers by an NBA rookie, since he already has hit 166 in 50 games (it took Steph Curry 80 games to reach 166 in his first season). The current record: 206 by the Sacramento Kings’ Keegan Murray. A bonus for the Hornets forward last weekend: A German lesson from the great Dirk Nowitzki.
3. VJ Edgecombe, Philadelphia 76ers
Season stats: 14.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.3 apg
Last Ladder: No. 3 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 3
As the trade deadline neared, a headline in Philadelphia urged the Sixers not to deal away the rookie from the Bahamas, which hit like advising OKC not to ship Shai Gilgeous-Alexander back to the LA Clippers. No, duh! Edgecombe – who ranks second in minutes, fourth in points, second in assists and first in steals in the Class of 2025 – is more essential than ever with Paul George lost to his 25-game substance suspension.
4. Derik Queen, New Orleans Pelicans
Season stats: 12.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 4.3 apg
Last Ladder: No. 5 ⬆️
Draft pick: No. 13
Many times the “threshold records” cited in sports are as arbitrary as Congressional district maps, but in Queen’s case, we’ll make an exception: He is one of only three players since the NBA/ABA merger 50 years ago to reach 600 points, 350 rebounds and 200 assists before playing in the 50th game of his career. The others: Larry Bird and Ben Simmons. The Pelicans’ young center ranked fifth, first and first in those categories through Monday’s action.
5. Cedric Coward, Memphis Grizzlies
Season stats: 13.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.9 apg
Last Ladder: No. 4 ⬇️
Draft pick: No. 11
Coward’s all-around, two-way game can make him hard to classify, but earns him lofty comparisons among young guys who take similar approaches. He punctuated the Grizzlies’ home victory Monday over Minnesota, wrapping his 20th double-figure scoring night in his past 23 performances.
The next 5
6. Egor Dëmin, Brooklyn Nets
Season stats: 10.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.3 apg
Last Ladder: No. 9 ⬆️
Draft pick: No. 8
Despite ranking 16th in fourth-quarter minutes among the rookies, Dëmin was tied with Charlotte’s Knueppel for the most 3-pointers (32) in that final period. And he was hitting 43.2% from deep in the fourth to Knueppel’s 36%. His 25-point, 10-rebound, six 3-point performance at Utah on Friday was the first at those thresholds by any Brooklyn rookie.
7. Caleb Love, Portland Trail Blazers
Season stats: 11.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.7 apg
Last Ladder: No. 6 ⬇️
Draft pick: Undrafted
Love’s 40 3-pointers in January came within two of the Blazers’ rookie record for any month, set by Damian Lillard in March 2013. The undrafted Arizona guard had scored 10+ points in 19 of 21 games heading into Portland’s clash with Phoenix Tuesday, good for 15.3 ppg and 36.7% on threes.
8. Maxime Raynaud, Sacramento Kings
Season stats: 9.6 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.0 apg
Last Ladder: No. 7 ⬇️
Draft pick: No. 42
In a pair of starts over the weekend, the 7-foot-1 Parisian totaled 28 points and 20 rebounds, hitting 12-for-16 shots with three blocks. Raynaud leads all second-round picks in points and rebounds, while ranking second in minutes.
9. Dylan Harper, San Antonio Spurs
Season stats: 10.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.5 apg
Last Ladder: Not ranked ⬆️
Draft pick: No. 2
Harper’s bench role behind De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle has limited him to 21.4 minutes nightly. But if you pro-rate his production to 36 minutes, he’s averaging 18.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists. He took the showdown of Nos. 2 and 4 picks Saturday seriously, with a Spurs-leading 20 points to Knueppel’s 13 in Charlotte.
10. Ace Bailey, Utah Jazz
Season stats: 11.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.6 apg
Last Ladder: T-10 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 5
Bailey has this rung to himself after a January in which he averaged 13.8 points and 5.3 rebounds, shooting 49.3%, and was a nominee for West Rookie of the Month. Of his six games of 20-plus points, three came in November, three in the final 11 days of January.
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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.
