Will Cooper Flagg overtake Kia Rookie of the Ladder leader Kon Knueppel at No. 1 before 2025-26 ends?
Given the date of posting for this Kia Rookie Ladder, the temptation was strong to declare a new leader in the weekly rankings, a fellow who had flown below the radar all season, only to emerge this week: Cooper Knueppel.
Naturally, he would have played last season at Duke. He’d be a franchise savior with uncanny 3-point accuracy, flashing All-Star skills while already helping his team leap in the NBA standings.
He would be, in other words, a merging of the Dallas Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg and the Charlote Hornets’ Kon Knueppel, a combo wing fit for April Fools’ Day.
Then again, the Ladder committee didn’t want to press its luck. At this point in the season, many supporters of Knueppel and Flagg have lost their sense of humor and suspect the other side’s backers of all sorts of snubs and slights.
Those who want to see Knueppel take home the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy as the league’s top rookie point to his preternatural 3-point shooting prowess – he already owns the rookie record and leads the NBA overall in 3s with 257 – as well as the contributions he has made to Charlotte’s much-improved record. The Hornets were 19-63 in 2024-25, are 40-36 now and are likely to be playing beyond game No. 82.
Flagg’s fans tout his explosive performances, the load he’s carrying for the Mavericks, his energy as a defender and his versatility as an offensive player. Flagg was, after all, the No. 1 pick last June. Unfortunately, Dallas has backpedaled from a 39-43 mark last season to 24-52 despite his addition.
Over the next week or so, each will try to solidify his case for the award. The difference is that Knueppel will try to do so without getting in the way of winning, while Flagg will need to do it without getting in the way of losing for the lottery-focused Mavs.
Here is this week’s edition of the Kia Rookie Ladder:
Weekly recap
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Who got better, or at least put up bigger numbers, as the season progressed? Utah Jazz rookie Ace Bailey has averaged 17.1 points since Jan. 15, an unofficial midpoint of the 82-game schedule. The Sacramento Kings’ Maxime Raynaud (13.5) and Washington Wizards’ Will Riley (13.3) were more prolific scorers than in the season’s first three months.
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New Orleans center Derik Queen tailed off considerably from his fast start to his latest travails. He was averaging 12.5 points and 7.5 boards, but tailed off after Jan. 14 to 9.9 and 6.0.
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Since Jan. 15, Knueppel’s plus-minus has been +8.4 per game compared to Flagg’s -4.4.
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Equalizing for minutes, Flagg has been scoring 21.6 points per 36 minutes to Knueppel’s 21.5.
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Top rookies on the road so far? Knueppel, 21.1 ppg; Raynaud, 7.3 rpg, and Flagg, 4.9 apg. Ryan Kalkbrenner has been most accurate overall (74.8%) while Knueppel has been the best on threes (48%).
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Home cookin’ rookies: Flagg, 20.6 ppg, Dylan Cardwell, 8.7 rpg, and Ryan Nembhard, 5.5 apg. Kalkbrenner has made 75.3% of his attempts at home while Memphis’ Javon Small has hit 49.3% of his 3-pointers.
Storyline to watch
The favorites’ finishing kick. Knueppel and Flagg have only a handful of games each to steal voters from each other for the Rookie of the Year award, and even less time to shake the Ladder. Next week will be the final edition for 2025-26, which, essentially, will be a ballot reveal. The top three for ROY will be listed, along with the 10 first-year players who will get votes for the All-Rookie first and second teams (at least from the Ladder committee).
(All stats through Tuesday, March 31)
- Kon Knueppel, Charlotte Hornets
- Season stats: 18.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 3.4 apg
- Last Ladder: No. 1
- Draft pick: No. 4
The night didn’t go the way Knueppel or the Hornets would have preferred – he shot 3-for-14 and the Sixers won in Charlotte on Saturday – but another admirer went on record about Knueppel’s strong debut season. “The shooting’s one thing,” Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said, “but there’s scoring, there’s toughness, there’s IQ, there’s team player, all those things that look like he’s exhibited, and he’s been absolutely all that and more. I think lots of people liked him in the draft, for sure, and he’s proved those people right, and the people that didn’t, he’s proved those people wrong.”
- Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks
- Season stats: 20.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 4.5 apg
- Last Ladder: No. 2
- Draft pick: No. 1
Flagg scored 20 of his 24 points Friday in Portland in the first half, the 11th time this season he has had 20+ points in a half. The rest of this season’s rookies have done it a total of 10 times. Two nights earlier, when he had 26 points, eight boards and seven assists with no turnovers, he joined Michael Jordan, Michael Finley, Blake Griffin and Kerry Kittles as the only rookies to have multiple 25-5-5-0 games.
- VJ Edgecombe, Philadelphia 76ers
- Season stats: 16 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 4 apg
- Last Ladder: No. 3
- Draft pick: No. 3
Edgecombe is the only rookie besides Flagg to be averaging at least 16 points, five rebounds and four assists. He leads the Class of 2025 in steals (1.4 spg). The Sixers have gone 39-29 when he has played, 2-5 when he hasn’t.
- Dylan Harper, San Antonio Spurs
- Season stats: 11.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.8 apg
- Last Ladder: No. 4
- Draft pick: No. 2
No big surprise that a site dedicated to Spurs coverage went through the mental exercise of evaluating Harper’s selection at No. 2 last June and comparing it to Knueppel’s season in Charlotte, only to determine San Antonio rightfully would pick Harper again. As well as the team’s third guard has played and given the Spurs’ record, it would be foolish to second-guess his pro-ready play at this point.
- Ace Bailey, Utah Jazz
- Season stats: 13.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.8 apg
- Last Ladder: No. 6
- Draft pick: No. 5
The fifth overall pick in the 2025 Draft finally ascends to a Ladder rung commensurate with that selection position. Bailey’s continuous improvement has been a bright spot for the Jazz, averaging 19.6 ppg in March with shooting splits of 45.3%/40.3%/88%. He had 29 “stocks” in 14 games on the defensive side.
The next 5
6. Maxime Raynaud, Sacramento Kings
- Season stats: 12 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.3 apg
- Last Ladder: No. 5
- Draft pick: No. 42
March was Raynaud’s busiest and best month. Averaging 33 minutes across 15 appearances, he shot 59.5%, including 8-for-18 on 3s, while putting up 17.9 points and 8.5 rebounds. The Kings joined him, going 5-for-10 for the month.
- Cedric Coward, Memphis Grizzlies
- Season stats: 13.3 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.8 apg
- Last Ladder: No. 7
- Draft pick: No. 11
Coward played in four straight after missing 14 of the Grizzlies’ previous 21 games. The rookie’s production hasn’t soared, but one reason is that opponents are more locked in on him, given Memphis’ overall struggles. “Right now, when you look at our roster, he’s a featured guy and teams may put a lot more emphasis on stopping him,” coach Tuomas Iisalo said.
- Derik Queen, New Orleans Pelicans
- Season stats: 11.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 3.6 apg
- Last Ladder: No. 8
- Draft pick: No. 13
Queen’s impact continues to sag after a week in which he averaged just 22.4 minutes, shot 41.7%, and logged a minus-54 in three games.
- Jeremiah Fears, New Orleans Pelicans
- Season stats: 13 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.3 apg
- Last Ladder: No. 9
- Draft pick: No. 9
In the 31 games Fears has come off the Pels’ bench, he has shot better, improved both his offensive and defensive ratings and turned a nasty plus/minus rating into a positive.
- Tre Johnson, Washington Wizards
- Season stats: 12.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2 apg
- Last Ladder: Not ranked
- Draft pick: No. 6
Johnson is one of only three rookies with shooting splits of at least 40% from the field, 35% from the arc, and 85% from the foul line. He is at 42.2/36/87.4, joined at that level by Miami’s Kasparas Jakucionis (42.3/41.8/90.7) and Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel (48.4/43.3/86.2).
Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
