Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg makes Kon Knueppel admission after ROY win

With Dallas Mavericks star Cooper Flagg winning the NBA’s Rookie of the Year honors, the contention came down to him and Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel. Besides the Mavericks rookie in Flagg talking about winning the award, he would also express the relationship he has with Knueppel.

Besides competing for the Rookie of the Year honors, and the abundance of discussion from the basketball award on who should win between the two, both are friends coming from Duke. Flagg would say on Wednesday how he talked with Knueppel all year, but never about the award, and how he considers him that will “be one of my best friends for the rest of my life.” 

“Me and Kon, we talked all year long, but we never talked about the rookie of the year, or what people were saying about any of that. It was more just support, you know, for one another. And staying in contact. I mean, he’s somebody that be one of my best friends for the rest of my life. So just stay in contact, seeing how things have been different for him and what he’s learned, and just trying to help each other in our own single journeys apart from each other, but just learning as much as we can about this league and how we can be better. But yeah, we definitely stayed in contact. And, yeah, I’ve talked to him.”

"We talked all year long, but we never talked about the Rookie of the Year… he's somebody that will be one of my best friends the rest of my life."@Cooper_Flagg on his relationship with his college teammate and his close friend @Kon2Knueppel throughout their special rookie… pic.twitter.com/KRni82nJ7b

— NBA (@NBA) April 29, 2026

This season, Flagg averaged 21 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 46.8 percent from the field and 29.5 percent from deep. Looking at Knueppel, he averaged 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 47.5 percent from the field and 42.5 percent from three-point range.

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