Cooper Flagg (left) and Kon Knueppel have each appeared in 39 of a possible 40 games so far this season.
Not only have the Dallas Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg and the Charlotte Hornets’ Kon Knueppel excelled on the court to earn top spots here at the Kia Rookie Ladder, but they have mostly stayed on the court, too.
Each has missed just one game so far, which is owed to their youth and spry physical shape. But it also speaks to their mental approach to surviving minor dings and pushing through without any string of absences.
Recently, the two former Duke teammates spoke separately about the grind and how they try to push through.
“I feel solid,” Flagg said when asked about his Mavericks workload. “It’s a lot of basketball, but I’m figuring out my routine — what works and what doesn’t. Some days you feel tired, some days you don’t feel 100 percent, but you play through it and figure it out.”
Said Knueppel: “I think you just have to be willing to play. … Going in with that mindset: How can I have my body ready to play and perform every day?
“Like, not ‘Oh no, my ankle hurts, I’ve got to get some treatment today.’ It’s more like, ‘Alright, my shoulder tends to bug me, let’s get working on the shoulder throughout the week.’”
Some form of injury accommodation is likely in both players’ future, but they’re not load-managing now, which gives maximum exposure to ticket-buying and TV-viewing fans around the league.
Here is this week’s Kia Rookie Ladder of the league’s top newcomers:
Weekly recap
• Typically, this is a column where veteran players and coaches offer compliments and impressions of the new guys. But Philadelphia 76ers rookie VJ Edgecombe turned the tables recently when talking about teammate Kyle Lowry, whom he considers essential as a mentor. The young guard was delighted to see how much appreciation Lowry got when Philadelphia played at Toronto this week. “That was amazing,” he said. “The city shows that they still love him. … I was at home when they won the [2019] championship, so, like I said, for them to show love, credit to them. Credit to them for not being salty or anything.”
• Special mention to Toronto’s Collin Murray-Boyles, who has been rolling in his past six games: 10.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 3.7 apg, two steals and one block, while shooting 60.9% and helping the Raptors go 4-2.
• Ryan Nembhard’s work off the bench for Dallas hadn’t been great (3.9 ppg, 21.4% 3-point shooting), but that’s where he’ll likely get his minutes once Kyrie Irving is back. So his play in reserve Monday in Brooklyn (nine points, eight assists, one turnover in 22 minutes) was a good sign.
Storyline to watch
Beware the rookie wall. This is the time of year rookies make like bugs drawn to one of those patio purple lights: Zap! The games have come fast and hard, rest has been sketchy and young fellas more used to playing 32 games in a whole season in college are pushing toward 40 or more in less than three months. One early player who seems to have gotten a rude introduction to the wall is San Antonio’s Dylan Harper, who went into Tuesday’s game at OKC averaging 2.3 points, three rebounds and 1.3 assists for the week, while shooting 16.7%. How Harper bounces back, and how many others in the Class of 2025 share a similar experience, will be something to watch.
(All stats through Tuesday, Jan. 13)
1. Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks
Season stats: 19.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 4.3 apg
Last Ladder: No. 1 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 1
It’s hard to find a flaw in Flagg’s game — frankly, his overall approach to this season as a teenage sensation — that he doesn’t address and fix. How ‘bout his work against Brooklyn Monday, when he notched his sixth game with at least 25 points, five rebounds and five assists – and this time didn’t turn over the ball in 35 minutes, while chipping in three steals and a block?
2. Kon Knueppel, Charlotte Hornets
Season stats: 19.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 3.6 apg
Last Ladder: No. 2 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 4
Knueppel looked a little vulnerable for slipping off this No. 2 rung on which he’s signed his name for much of the season, given his 30.4% shooting on 3-pointers and the end of his streak of games with multiple 3-pointers. But he did enough to hang on, and does enough regularly to impress another opponent. Here’s Clippers coach Ty Lue on Monday talking about the Charlotte forward: “He plays at his own pace. He’s a 3-level scorer, he can get to the basket, mid-range, shoots the 3, and understanding how to play the game. He doesn’t force anything. … He was just too comfortable last game we played him.”
3. VJ Edgecombe, Philadelphia 76ers
Season stats: 16.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4.4 apg
Last Ladder: No. 3 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 3
Edgecombe couldn’t quite overtake Knueppel this week, but the Sixers weren’t quibbling with his production, which included an average of 6.5 assists this week. He logged 38.2 minutes nightly and helped Philadelphia win three of four.
4. Derik Queen, New Orleans Pelicans
Season stats: 12.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 4.3 apg
Last Ladder: No. 4 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 13
Praise from a kindred big-man spirit, Pelicans assistant coach Greg Monroe, reiterated what a lot of rookie observers have noticed: this kid is completely unruffled against the world’s best competition. Said Monroe: “He’s not intimidated. … There’s a moment when you think, ‘Wow, I’m actually playing against this dude.’ But he is not intimidated by anyone, and he is not lacking in confidence.” Queen, by the way, got his second triple-double of 14, 16 and 12 on his return to his roots at Washington on Friday — and he’s the only rookie who’s had even one.
5. Cedric Coward, Memphis Grizzlies
Season stats: 13.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 2.9 apg
Last Ladder: No. 5 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 11
Thanks in part to his 46.2% shooting on 3-pointers, Coward averaged 17 points, 8.5 boards and 2.5 assists this week, while taking 6.5 of his 12 field-goal attempts from deep. He ranks second to Queen among the rookies in rebounding, and he scored in double figures 13 times in his past 14 games.
The next 5
6. Maxime Raynaud, Sacramento Kings
Season stats: 10.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.1 apg
Last Ladder: No. 7 ⬆️
Draft pick: No. 42
When you’re a big man with skills and you’ve had the impact Raynaud has had (despite being drafted in the middle of the second round), teams — or at least some of their fans — might be second-guessing themselves. Minnesota is one such team, as it drafted a pair of project centers in June (Joan Beringer and Rocco Zikarsky), but could have had Raynaud for more current help.
7. Egor Dëmin, Brooklyn Nets
Season stats: 10.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.5 apg
Last Ladder: No. 9 ⬆️
Draft pick: No. 8
In the half dozen games right before Dëmin sat out vs. Dallas on Monday, he had drained 24 of 46 3-pointers, a 52.2% clip. Curiously, he shot 4-of-19 from inside the arc in that stretch of games.
8. Jeremiah Fears, New Orleans Pelicans
Season stats: 14.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.1 apg
Last Ladder: No. 8 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 7
Fears is back to consistently scoring 10+ per game after a spate of single-digit performances around the holidays. He has averaged 16 points in his past six appearances — the rookie point guard has yet to miss a game — and had his share of moments like this.
9. Caleb Love, Portland Trail Blazers
Season stats: 10.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.3 apg
Last Ladder: Not ranked ⬆️
Draft pick: Undrafted
In early December, Love was hearing the word “inefficient” attached to his performances for Portland. But it’s hard to quibble with his production lately. Since Dec. 23, he has averaged 16.8 points on 45% shooting, including 40.4% on 3-pointers. The word he’s starting to hear now: “Lillard.”
10. Tre Johnson, Washington Wizards
Season stats: 12.5 ppg, 3 rpg, 1.9 apg
Last Ladder: No. 10 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 6
Johnson continues to up his scoring for Washington, and earned praise from the Phoenix Suns’ Devin Booker after Johnson scored 19 in the Wizards’ road loss to the Suns on Sunday. “He’s smooth. He can shoot the ball. He can do a little bit of everything,” Booker said. Of hearing the rookie compared to him, Booker added: “I’ll take that after what he was doing tonight. He looks like a special talent.”
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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.
