Cooper Flagg showed his clutch skills in Tuesday's 100-98 win against the Kings.
The depth of the NBA’s Class of 2025 has been one of the bright spots and biggest storylines of this season. The logical question now, heading toward the schedule’s midpoint, is: Will the rookie buzz be part of NBA All-Star 2026 in Los Angeles Feb. 13-15?
Specifically, the potential for one or more rookies to appear in the showcase event at the Intuit Dome on Sunday of that weekend would dust off some history among first-year participants. No rookie has played in the All-Star Game since Clippers forward Blake Griffin did it in 2011. No rookie has started since Houston center Yao Ming in 2003.
In the second returns of fan balloting released Tuesday, Dallas’ Cooper Flagg ranked 16th in the West. None of the East’s new guys, such as the Charlotte Hornets’ Kon Knueppel or the Philadelphia 76ers’ VJ Edgecombe, cracked the Top 20 in the East, but there still are ballot boxes to be crammed.
And after that, the conference coaches will weigh in. Coaches typically view All-Star selection as a reward for strong first-half performance rather than popularity contests or lifetime achievement, so the various rookies’ work so far could open the door.
Then again, the annual Rising Stars Game is considered the rookies’ time to shine and earn a trip to All-Star Weekend. That probably makes the Sunday hurdle higher, when you recall that Victor Wembanyama, Ja Morant, Luka Dončić, Karl-Anthony Towns, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant and LeBron James, among Kia Rookie of the Year winners in this century, didn’t achieve All-Star status in their debut seasons.
Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd recently was asked about Flagg’s chances.
“He’s going to be there no matter what,” Kidd said. “If he participates in the big game, that’s because of the work he’s put in. We hope that he does make the big game & he gets voted in. He’s playing at a high level for a young player. He’s taking on the best defender. He’s trying to help his team win. He’s been very successful in late-game.
“Hopefully he’s in the big game, but he will participate in the little game [Rising Stars], the one before. [This class has] some guys that are playing at a high level.”
For the record, 45 rookies have been named All-Stars, but only 19 have earned the nod over the past 50 years. Just eight have gone in the lottery era, starting with New York’s Patrick Ewing in 1986.
This explains another reason why the Rookie of the Year Award is commemorated with the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy. Not only did Chamberlain put up the most prodigious stats ever for a first-year player (37.6 ppg, 27 rpg), he was named MVP of the 1959-60 season and All-Star MVP (23 points, 25 boards at Philadelphia’s Convention Hall).
Here is the first Kia Rookie Ladder of 2026, with this week’s rankings:
Weekly recap
- Ladder Holders of the Week: Portland’s Caleb Love and Toronto’s Collin Murray-Boyles. Love continues to push upward toward the Top 10 after averaging 15.5 points and helping the Trail Blazers to a 3-1 week while playing 28.3 minutes. Murray-Boyles had earned his minutes on defense but contributed to the Raptors at the other end with 17 points, seven rebounds and a season-best seven assists in a victory over Atlanta.
- Charlotte’s Ryan Kalkbrenner hasn’t played in more than two weeks, dealing with a sore elbow. Yet he still leads all rookies with 47 blocks, a healthy 13 more than second-place Derik Queen.
- Speaking of the Hornets, Knueppel’s fit within his team is energizing and clicking with some of his teammates. When the rookie starts alongside guard LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller, Charlotte is 9-5. That trio’s net rating is plus-9.3 in their 231 minutes together, compared to the team’s minus-1.7 overall.
Storyline to watch
More than one rookie All-Star? Look, it’s going to be difficult enough for one rookie to earn an All-Star selection. It’s a numbers game after all, with 12 players per conference and now the U.S.A. vs. World filter applied to the process. Still, if some combination of Flagg, Knueppel and Edgecombe or another newcomer were picked, it would mark the first All-Star Game with multiple rookies since Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon participated in 1985.
(All stats through Tuesday, Jan. 6)
1. Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks
Season stats: 18.9 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 4.2 apg
Last Ladder: No. 1 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 1
A shooting slump heading into and through the New Year holiday – 14 of 47, 29.8%, and a total of 37 points – brought up the familiar January topic for draftees: the rookie wall. Dallas teammate Anthony Davis said of Flagg’s potential fledgling: “When you’re used to playing 38 games and … it’s not even halfway through the NBA season, it can be a lot. We put a lot of pressure on him. We ask him to do a lot. Every rookie kind of hits that stretch. But he’s playing good basketball, and it’s our job to help him through that.” Flagg kept contributing, then came through big Tuesday at Sacramento: 20 points, eight rebounds, six assists on 8-of-15 shooting. He was a plus-11 in 35 minutes of the 100-98 Mavs victory, meaning Dallas got outscored by nine in the 13 minutes Flagg sat.
2. Kon Knueppel, Charlotte Hornets
Season stats: 19.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 3.5 apg
Last Ladder: No. 2 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 4
In what already has been a stellar and surprising season for the “other” Duke draftee, Knueppel enjoyed arguably his best night Monday. He put up a 23-5-5 line, hit 5-of-7 from the arc and was a plus-15 in 28 minutes in the Hornets’ unexpected 124-97 trouncing of OKC. Thunder coach Mark Daigneault had flowers for the Charlotte small forward that night. Knueppel is also chasing some Hornets rookie greatness with his current streak of 11 games with 15 points or more – per ESPN, that’s the most by a Charlotte newbie since Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning in 1992-93.
3. VJ Edgecombe, Philadelphia 76ers
Season stats: 16.5 pgg, 5.4 rpg, 4.1 apg
Last Ladder: No. 3 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 3
Edgecombe’s best case for a high Ladder rung and ROY consideration is his impact. The Sixers are 18-12 when the rookie plays, compared to a combined 49-93 for the other four players at the top of these rankings. Winning isn’t often a worthy measure for first-year players, but Edgecombe deserves credit for insinuating himself into the “Big Four” in Philadelphia, making key plays at both ends and showing particular aplomb in the clutch. He has hit 58.8% of his 3-point shots (10-of-17) in such situations, tops in accuracy and second in the NBA in makes.
4. Derik Queen, New Orleans Pelicans
Season stats: 13.1 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 4.1 apg
Last Ladder: No. 4 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 13
The rookie had a moment against the legend on Tuesday. But his performance was most notable as a flirtation with his second triple-double (10 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists). Queen fills up the stat sheet, ranking first in both total assists (153) and total rebounds (265), second in blocks (34) and fourth in steals (39). He also leads the rookies with 91 turnovers and 116 fouls.
5. Cedric Coward, Memphis Grizzlies
Season stats: 13.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.9 apg
Last Ladder: No. 5 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 11
Coward missed Tuesday’s game vs. the Spurs after spraining his left ankle Sunday against the Lakers. He possibly will play on Wednesday against Phoenix. Over the past five weeks, Coward has averaged 15.1 points on 51.5% shooting with 7.9 rebounds … and had nice moments like this.
The next 5
6. Dylan Harper, San Antonio Spurs
Season stats: 11.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.7 apg
Last Ladder: No. 6 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 2
Shooting splits: 47.3%/29.8%/78% in the 19 victories in which he has played for San Antonio, averaging 12.4 points. But 36.6/15.8/45.5 in the seven defeats in which he has appeared, good for just 8.6 points. Now, which is the chicken and which is the egg?
7. Maxime Raynaud, Sacramento Kings
Season stats: 10.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 1.1 apg
Last Ladder: No. 8 ⬆️
Draft pick: No. 42
His December numbers (15.5 ppg, 9.3 rpg) dwarf his January stats through four games (9.5 ppg and 7.5 rpg), but the Kings’ usage of Raynaud has dipped, as have his shots (from 11.6 last month to 6.8 so far this month). The silver lining? His 63% shooting percentage is up from 57.6% in December.
8. Jeremiah Fears, New Orleans Pelicans
Season stats: 14.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.1 apg
Last Ladder: No. 7 ⬇️
Draft pick: No. 7
From 18 points one night to 4 the next, then from 5 to 18, and most recently from 21 to 9. Fears’ inconsistency at what he does best could give Pelicans fans whiplash. So could the team, of course, going 5-10 over the past month, with all five victories in a row. Fears has shot just 41.2% in that time, 24.4% on 3-pointers.
9. Egor Dëmin, Brooklyn Nets
Season stats: 9.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.4 apg
Last Ladder: No. 9 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 8
He’s not flirting with the vaunted 50/40/90 club yet, mostly because six of his 8.9 shots per game are 3-pointers. But Dëmin is hitting 37.2% of the long ones, a big step from his 27.3% last season at BYU. He’s drawing defensive attention like never before. “It’s an honor,” he said after Sunday’s victory over Denver. “To be guarded by one of the best defenders of the team, right? I’ve really got to find a way how to impact the game, not just from the 3-point line.”
10. Tre Johnson, Washington Wizards
Season stats: 12 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.8 apg
Last Ladder: No. 10 ↔️
Draft pick: No. 6
A rough shooting night Tuesday (he’s made just one of his past nine threes) and only six points vs. Orlando. But he had a season-best five assists, was a plus-16 in the Wizards’ fifth victory in the past seven games, and his 40% accuracy from the arc ranks second among rookies who have attempted 100+ (Knueppel, 43.5%).
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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.
