Cooper Flagg reflects on season after winning NBA Rookie of the Year
The grand finale to a historic season, the Dallas Mavericks held a news conference to celebrate Cooper Flagg after winning the 2026 NBA Rookie of the Year Award.
The award, named after Pro Basketball Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain, went to Flagg, who along with Chamberlain — known as the “Big Dipper” — were the only NBA rookies to score at least 96 points over a two-game span, thanks in part to Flagg becoming the first teenager to score 51 points in a game, which he did against the Orlando Magic.
Flagg didn’t get advance notice of his win, with the Maine native having to find out via television.
“I found out at [6 p.m.] on TV, sitting on my couch at home with my family, and so I saw Grant (Hill) open the letter,” said Flagg. “It was a cool moment, it’s probably one of the first times that I’ve won an award, and I had to find out with everybody else. So, I mean, I think that was pretty cool. I had a lot of anticipation, and honestly, I was a little nervous. So it was cool [to] just be with my family.”
Despite his historic output during the season, Flagg won a close race for the award, edging out friend and former Duke teammate Kon Knueppel by 26 points, the second-closest race since the 2002-03 season.
Knueppel and Flagg talked throughout the season but never about the award, only offering each other support throughout their rookie seasons.
“Me and Kon, we talked all year long, we never talked about the Rookie of the Year, or you know, what people were saying about any of that. It was more just support for one another, staying in contact, I mean, he’s somebody that’ll be one of my best friends the rest of my life,” said Flagg, “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.”
Headed into his sophomore season, Flagg is looking to improve his game, focusing on the offensive end of the court, a place where he already improved massively. He started the season averaging 13.4 points per game in October versus 29.2 points in the season’s final month.
“I’m gonna work on a lot of different things. There’s always room for improvement in every area of the game. But, I mean, I think there’s a ton of growth that I can make offensively off the dribble, and making reads, at a high level. So I’m excited to get in the gym, especially with some of the guys, and continue to learn and grow in a lot of different areas,” said Flagg.
Making high-level reads is one place Flagg could improve, per Cleaning the Glass he ranked in the 33rd percentile for assist to usage ratio which judges how often a player gets an assist versus how often they have the ball.
With the win, Flagg becomes the second-youngest player in NBA history to win the award, after LeBron James, and head coach Jason Kidd, in attendance with several players including Dereck Lively II, Kyrie Irving and Max Christie at the news conference.
“It feels great. Honestly, you know these guys are here in support, and you know, it feels great, but I think we’re all excited, obviously, coming to this year. We all had different expectations,” said Flagg, “But all that’s in the past, it’s time for us to just move forward, continue to grow, continue to get better, and have a high outlook on how next year can go, and we’re just going to put in the work all summer long and just get ready for it.”
After a standout rookie season, Flagg will try and avoid the sophomore slump as the Mavs hope they can return to the playoffs proper for the first time since making the finals during the 2023 season.
