Cooper Flagg’s legendary NBA debut season was cemented on Monday night as the Newport, Maine native won the league’s Rookie of the Year. The Dallas Mavericks star and No. 1 overall pick edged out his former Duke teammate, Charlotte’s Kon Kneuppel, for the award. Flagg earned 56 first-place votes to Kneuppel’s 44 first-place votes as...
Cooper Flagg’s legendary NBA debut season was cemented on Monday night as the Newport, Maine native won the league’s Rookie of the Year.
The Dallas Mavericks star and No. 1 overall pick edged out his former Duke teammate, Charlotte’s Kon Kneuppel, for the award. Flagg earned 56 first-place votes to Kneuppel’s 44 first-place votes as the 19-year-old became the second-youngest player in NBA history to win the Rookie of the Year, behind LeBron James.
Flagg shattered the lofty expectations he already had entering his rookie season. He joined Michael Jordan as the only rookies in NBA history to lead their teams in points, rebounds, assists and steals since steals were first recorded in 1973-74. He finished with averages of 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Flagg joined Jordan, Larry Bird and Luka Doncic as the only rookies with averages of at least 20 points, six rebounds and four assists.
The 6-foot-9 Flagg became the youngest player in NBA history to score 35, 40, 45 and 50 points in a single game, topped with a career-high 51 points in an April 3 loss to the Orlando Magic. That set the league’s single-game scoring record by a teenager.
Flagg is the first player with New England roots to win NBA Rookie of the Year since Michael Carter-Williams – a Hamilton, Mass. native and former St. Andrew’s standout – won the award in 2014.
