Mavericks' Cooper Flagg breaks historic records as 2026 NBA Rookie of the year winner originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Debates about who deserves to win have finally come to an end. Cooper Flagg has officially won the 2026 NBA Rookie of the Year award. Towards the tail-end of the season, the Dallas Mavericks star was not at all far from losing the award to Charlotte Hornets' Kon Knueppel. He managed to pull all of the necessary votes and came out with the hardware. More than that, Flagg also notched some historic feats with the win.
To start, Cooper Flagg is only the third Mavericks player to win NBA Rookie of the Year. Luka Doncic was the most recent in 2019 and Coach Jason Kidd was the first to do it for the franchise back in 1995. Flagg also had an insane year with averages of 21 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.2 steals. He led the Mavericks in points, rebounds, assists, and steals.
In the grander scheme of things, Flagg led all rookies in points per game and total assists. He was second total points, steals per game, blocks per game and assists per game. The Mavericks NBA Rookie of the Year winner was also top five in total steals, and total blocks, per StatMuse.
In the lead-up to deciding the NBA Rookie of the Year race, Flagg also notched the most points in a game by a rookie when he scored 51 points against the Orlando Magic back in April. Not to mention, he also dropped 49 points on the Hornets which had Knueppel on January.
The Mavericks star was the first teenager to score over 50 points in a game, became the first player since Michael Jordan to have multiple 45-point games as a first-year player, and was the first rookie since Walt Bellamy in 1962 to score consecutive 45+ points.
Prior to turning 19, Flagg might have already secured the NBA Rookie of the Year award too. Among 18 year-olds, he has the sole 40-point game in league history, only trails LeBron James for the most 20-point and 30-point games. Not to mention, the Mavericks star also has the second-most assists by an 18-year-old in the NBA. He notched 99 of them which trails James and is ahead of Tracy McGrady and Kobe Bryant.
When it comes to defense, Flagg has also been insane. He has the fourth-most rebounds among all 18-year-olds in the NBA which is ahead of Dwight Howard. He is also fifth in steals in the same category, only behind McGrady, James, Bryant, and Bill Willoughby.
All of these are insane numbers that Flagg broke to beat Knueppel in the NBA Rookie of the Year race. He will do great in the association.