Cooper Flagg set a rookie record with his 42-point showing on Monday in Salt Lake City.
Some day, and it might come sooner than we think, people will look at the NBA careers of Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel and wonder how a Duke team that had both of them stalled out in a 70-67 loss to Houston in the NCAA semifinal game at San Antonio last April.
It’s kind of hard to believe already, with the two Blue Devils ranked No. 1-2 yet again on the Kia Rookie Ladder. For the record, while Flagg (27) and Knueppel (16) combined for 43 points, the other eight Duke players totaled just 24.
But that has no bearing on the rookie seasons Flagg and Knueppel are having at the pro level. They rank first and second, respectively, in scoring and shots taken, and second and third in average minutes. Based on the first quarter or so of the NBA season, they figure to finish high in Rookie of the Year balloting and claim two of the five spots on the All-Rookie first team honor squad.
Here, in a short week due to Emirates NBA Cup scheduling, is the latest ranking of the NBA’s top rookies:
Weekly recap
• Fortunately, only one Ladder denizen got snared in the NBA Cup’s there-but-not-there bookkeeping for its championship games. San Antonio’s Dylan Harper scored 21 points in the title loss to New York, as many points as he managed in the Spurs’ two games that officially counted this week. We’re pretty sure neither Harper nor his teammates would trade the experience they got in Las Vegas, right through Tuesday’s game. But at a time when so few players appear in all 82 games, would it really skew the record book to count those achieved in the Cup championship in Vegas? An argument could be made that an extra game’s worth of stats would be a nice reward for helping your team get that far.
• Ace Bailey slipped off the Ladder this week, in part due to his 33.3% shooting and 7.5 ppg in Utah’s two contests. But it’s part of a harsher reality for this year’s rookies, including the likes of Egor Dëmin and Tre Johnson, that some solid first-year players might get snubbed from the two All-Rookie teams by season’s end, given the 12, 13 or 14 potentially deserving candidates in a truly deep class.
Storyline to watch
• Flagg is aging before our eyes. And that’s a good thing. By next week’s Ladder, Dallas’ prize rookie won’t be 18 anymore (he turns 19 on Sunday). Thus, all the age-related gushing that has come his way, like this and this, will need to shift to 19-year-old comparisons. Look, the company Flagg has kept chronologically has been impressive, but the Ladder committee isn’t a big fan of such plaudits because so many of the league’s greatest players didn’t arrive until 19, 20 or (gasp!) older. It will allow folks to evaluate Flagg not by his birthdate but by all his other pertinent numbers. Too grumpy? Humbug!
(All stats through Tuesday, Dec. 16)
1. Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks
Season stats: 18.4 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.5 apg
Last Ladder: No. 1
Draft pick: No. 1
Now here is a “youngest this, earliest that” achievement that really doesn’t hang on Flagg’s age. His 42-point game in Monday’s overtime loss at Utah came in his 26th NBA appearance, which was quicker than a bunch of legendary players had their first night of 40+, including Elgin Baylor, Larry Bird, Allen Iverson and LeBron James. The only giants who got there before Flagg? Oscar Robertson (14), Michael Jordan (nine), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (seven) and all-time best rookie Wilt Chamberlain, who dropped 43 with 28 rebounds at New York in his NBA debut (and would have broken the Internet by averaging 37.6 points and 27 boards that season).
2. Kon Knueppel, Charlotte Hornets
Season stats: 19 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 3.5 apg
Last Ladder: No. 2
Draft pick: No. 4
When Hornets teammate LaMelo Ball was voted Kia Rookie of the Year in 2021, he averaged 14.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists, while shooting 43%. Knueppel’s same stats – in an admittedly deeper class – are 18.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 3.5 apg and 46% on 3-pointers. His 89 3-pointers trail only Donovan Mitchell (101) and Stephen Curry (93).
3. Derik Queen, New Orleans Pelicans
Season stats: 12.7 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 4 apg
Last Ladder: No. 3
Draft pick: No. 13
Rookies, no matter how successful in their pre-Christmas appearances, don’t get much prerogative when it comes to playing through a clunker. Queen had scored only four points and taken just four shots through three quarters when New Orleans coach James Borrego decided to call on Karlo Matković – who hadn’t played and averages just 11 minutes – to fill Queen’s spot for the whole fourth quarter. Worked out in the 114-104 victory in Chicago on Sunday, though Queen did chip in eight boards and six assists.
4. Jeremiah Fears, New Orleans Pelicans
Season stats: 15.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.1 apg
Last Ladder: No. 5
Draft pick: No. 7
Nothing like a little team success to boost a rookie’s profile, or vice versa. The Pelicans’ two-game winning streak vs. Portland and at Chicago saw Fears score 39 points on 27 shots. A Sports Illustrated story noted the rookie guard averages fewer minutes but more drives to the basket nightly than Anthony Edwards and Paolo Banchero.
5. VJ Edgecombe, Philadelphia 76ers
Season stats: 15.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 4.0 apg
Last Ladder: No. 6
Draft pick: No. 3
Injuries fueled Edgecombe’s heavy minutes at the start of the season, and Tyrese Maxey’s illness absence saw the rookie’s role bump up again this week. He averaged 39 minutes and 24 points against Indiana and Atlanta. After the Baylor product’s 26-point outburst vs. the Hawks that included 4-of-10 from the arc, teammate Joel Embiid said of Edgecombe: “Being aggressive, taking shots when they’re available.”
The Next 5:
6. Cedric Coward, Memphis Grizzlies
Season stats: 13.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 2.8 apg
Last Ladder: No. 4
Draft pick: No. 11
After a six-game stretch in which he shot 34.4% overall, made only two of 23 3-point attempts and scored in single digits four times, Coward has averaged 15.8 and shot 54.4% in his past four appearances. Two of his class-high double-doubles have come in the past two weeks.
7. Dylan Harper, San Antonio Spurs
Season stats: 13.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.7 apg
Last Ladder: No. 7
Draft pick: No. 2
The guy drafted immediately after Flagg has yet to start for San Antonio, but has been a real bonus off the bench. Harper’s per-36 minutes numbers – he’s only averaging 21.9 minutes (10th among the 14 lottery picks) – are All-Star and even Sixth Man worthy at 21.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6 assists per game. For comparison, his teammate Stephon Castle was named Kia Rookie of the Year for averaging 14.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg and 4.1 apg in 26.7 minutes – or 19.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 5.5 apg per 36 minutes.
8. Ryan Nembhard, Dallas Mavericks
Season stats: 8.6 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 5.2 apg
Last Ladder: No. 8
Draft pick: Undrafted
The guy who was there to be chosen by any team on Draft night has as many games of 10+ assists – all in December – as the rest of the rookie class has since Opening Night. He is tied with Coward for 7th in that category with 73, while ranking 22nd in minutes (281) and 18th in turnovers (21).
9. Maxime Raynaud, Sacramento Kings
Season stats: 8.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 0.9 apg
Last Ladder: Not ranked
Draft pick: No. 42
The Frenchman isn’t shy: in barely half the total minutes, the Kings’ new starter already has taken more shots than Charlotte’s Ryan Kalkbrenner. His opportunities in the wake of Domantas Sabonis’ knee injury last month have shown him to be a quick study. In a recent interview with Eurosport, Raynaud said: “I know where I have to be and when. It’s easier now than on the first day of training camp.”
10. Ryan Kalkbrenner, Charlotte Hornets
Season stats: 8.9 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.9 bpg
Last Ladder: No. 10
Draft pick: No. 34
The Hornets’ 7-foot-1 newbie ranks first among rookies in offensive rebounds (63 to second-place Queen’s 44) and blocked shots (45 to Queen’s 21). But he’s 15th in field-goal attempts and has yet to take more than nine shots in a game.
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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.
