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NBA Communications: The 2025-26 Kia NBA All-Rookie First Team: Cedric Coward, @memgrizz VJ Edgecombe, @sixers Cooper Flagg, @dallasmavs Dylan Harper, @spurs Kon Knueppel, @hornets
Kon Knueppel on Rookie of the Year award: “Obviously, I wanted to win it. If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that this is how my year would go, I would have taken it one hundred percent. “I went into the morning when they announced it thinking, ‘I can’t do anything about it now. I did all I could.’ I would have felt worse if I felt like I had left something out there, but I felt like I did all I could. “Maybe I wish I could have shot it better at the end of the season, but I was willing to live with the result. I felt like I had a really good season. I felt like I was deserving. I would have won it in a lot of different years, and I thought Cooper was also very deserving.”
Former Duke star Kon Knueppel continued his podcast tour this summer, making an appearance on the "Dale Jr. Download," hosted by none other than former two-time Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. This comes not long after appearing on a podcast with Milwaukee Brewers star Christian Yelich. Earnhardt Jr. is the son of former racing icon Dale Earnhardt, who is tied with both Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson for the most NASCAR championships (7) in the sport's history.
But here at TrueHoop, we just crunched decades of numbers, and discovered that the likelihood any team will draft a player, and have that player become an excellent NBA performer while still in the same uniform, is six percent. In other words, 94 percent of the picks in June’s draft are likely not to make your dreams come true, either because: * They’re not good enough, injured, under-nurtured, or similar; * Or by the time they’re highly productive, they’ve moved on to another team. We used Dunks and Threes data to assess that, and we set the bar high: at ten earned wins a season. That’s precisely where Kon Knueppel finished his rookie year. (It’s also about half of the production of a typical season’s best; this season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished just below 20 Earned Wins.) But my guess is, it doesn’t much matter which numbers you use; you’d find similar results from almost any robust analysis.
Did you feel that this year, in terms of the earning-the-stripes part? Even with guys on other teams — obviously, with your teammates, the more you’re with them, the more you’re going to bond with them — but with guys on other teams, did you feel like they started to treat you differently at all? Kon Knueppel: Like the exact point he made, I was just really not going to try to talk to guys. I was definitely not going to talk shit to guys. I was really just going to try to focus on what I’m doing. But I think as the season went on, those after-game “stay healthy, bro” type talks got a little more in-depth, which was cool. And then, obviously, the guys we talked about in your class — you’re going to have a little bit more of a bond with those guys. But I thought it was cool. Like you said, as the season went on, those conversations got a little more in-depth than just, “Good game.”
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Knueppel helped the Hornets (44-38) finish with a winning record for just the second time in the past decade. Cooper Flagg’s Mavericks (26-56) finished in 12th place in the Western Conference. The Mavericks entered the season with high hopes but had to adjust their expectations after star big man Anthony Davis dealt with calf and hand injuries and was traded to the Washington Wizards in February. “Coming into this year, we all had different expectations in how we thought the year would go,” Flagg said. “But all of that is in the past. I think it’s time to move forward. Continue to grow, continue to get better and have a high outlook on how next year can go. We are just going to put in the work all summer long. I think we’re all excited for it.”
NBA Communications: The 2025-26 Kia NBA Rookie of the Year Award winner will be revealed tonight at 7 PM ET on Peacock and NBCSN. The three finalists: ▪️VJ Edgecombe, @sixers ▪️Cooper Flagg, @dallasmavs ▪️Kon Knueppel, @hornets
NBA Communications: The three finalists for the 2025-26 Kia NBA Rookie of the Year Award: VJ Edgecombe, @sixers Cooper Flagg, @dallasmavs Kon Knueppel, @hornets
Draymond Green picks Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as MVP over Victor Wembanyama: I said before I think Wemby has to do some things to go take it. I don’t think it can be neck and neck and you get the nod over the guy who’s already won MVP. Maybe next year Wemby can go take it but this year I got SGA”
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Draymond Green tabs Kon Knueppel as Rookie of the Year over Cooper Flagg: I know everyone says ‘rookie of the year isn’t an award that goes off winning.’ When did winning stop mattering for anything? Basketball is about winning and losing. He has affected winning in a major way. I think that has to count for something.
Justin Russo: The last time the Charlotte Hornets won a playoff game, Courtney Lee hit the game-winner and Marvin Williams led them in scoring. LaMelo Ball and Moussa Diabaté were 14 years old, Brandon Miller was 13, and Kon Knueppel was 10.
Although Cooper Flagg was the consensus can't-miss prospect, Ball was talking up Kon Knueppel to the Hornets GM. Ball had watched Duke play during the season and told Peterson how savvy he thought the forward was. He was struck by Knueppel's basketball IQ and understanding of the game -- impressive even for a five-star prospect. And of course, there was Knueppel's elite shooting. Ball's astute scouting report was before Charlotte even knew where it would be drafting. The Hornets learned in the draft lottery a month later that they would have the fourth pick, which they eventually used on Knueppel. "He's spot on with those traits," Peterson told ESPN of that break-of-dawn draft breakdown. "He was very detailed in his evaluation of why he liked him. That was even more impressive that he was able to kind of highlight him because there were some other guys that he didn't highlight. "He may have a future in the front office if he wants."
