NBA set to give out Rookie of the Year award; Flagg, Knueppel and Edgecombe finalists
Dallas’ Cooper Flagg and Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel were Duke teammates last season. For the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award, they’re basically rivals.
The former Blue Devils were expected to finish first and second — in some order — for the NBA’s rookie award, which will be announced shortly past 7 pm EDT on Monday. Flagg and Knueppel were first and second in rookie scoring this season, the first former college teammates to do that since UConn stars Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon did in 2004-05.
Philadelphia’s VJ Edgecombe is also a finalist for the rookie honor. “NBA ROTY announced tonight, still hoping for a tie,” read a post on Duke basketball’s X account on Monday. Such a finish isn’t unheard of.
There have been three ties for Rookie of the Year — two of them involving Duke players, Elton Brand and Grant Hill. Brand and Steve Francis tied in 2000, Hill and Jason Kidd in 1995 and Dave Cowens and Geoff Petrie tied in 1971. The rookie award is the sixth to be announced by the NBA since the end of the regular season. The others:
- San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama was the unanimous Defensive Player of the Year.
- Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got 96 of a possible 100 first-place votes to win the Clutch Player of the Year award.
- San Antonio’s Keldon Johnson won Sixth Man of the Year.
- Boston’s Derrick White won the Sportsmanship Award. That award, unlike most others, is selected solely by active players.
- Atlanta’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker won Most Improved Player.
Other award announcements yet to be scheduled include MVP (either Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama or Denver’s Nikola Jokic) and Coach of the Year (either Detroit’s JB Bickerstaff, San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson or Boston’s Joe Mazzulla). The NBA will announce the Executive of the Year, the Twyman—Stokes Teammate of the Year and the Hustle Award winner later this week.
