New York (AFP) – Cooper Flagg, a 19-year-old American forward for the Dallas Mavericks, was voted the 2026 NBA Rookie of the Year, the league announced on Monday. Flagg, selected by Dallas with the first overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft, averaged an NBA rookie-best 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.2 steals a game this season for the Mavericks, who went 26-56 and missed the playoffs.
Flagg was the first rookie to lead his team in points, steals, rebounds, and assists since 1985 NBA Rookie of the Year Michael Jordan with Chicago. By scoring a season-high 51 points earlier this month in a loss to Orlando, Flagg became the youngest player in NBA history with a 50-point performance. Flagg had four 40-point games in the season, the most by a rookie since Allen Iverson in 1996-97, and broke the record set by LeBron James for most 40-point NBA games by a teenager.
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Flagg became the third Dallas player to win the Rookie of the Year award, joining Jason Kidd in 1995 and 2019 winner Luka Doncic, whose trade to the Los Angeles Lakers last season set the stage for Dallas to tumble into the NBA Draft Lottery and win the top pick used on Flagg.
Philadelphia’s V.J. Edgecombe, a 20-year-old Bahamian guard, and Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel, a 20-year-old American forward who was a college teammate of Flagg at Duke University, were the other finalists for the award. Voting by a global media panel saw Flagg receive 56 first-place votes and 412 points overall to 44 first-place votes and 386 points for Knueppel.
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