The Rookie of the Year race will see Cooper Flagg having a tougher path to the trophy after a recent update. Early voting results show a near even split between Flagg and Kon Knueppel. A Reddit user from the popular NBA subreddit put together a tracker to show total votes confirmed by reporters sharing their first-place selections. The tracker shows that 13 names have admitted voting for Flagg and 12 voted for Knueppel.
Current voting tally confirmed:
Cooper Flagg: 13 first place votes, 5 second place votes, 0 third place votes
Kon Knueppel: 12 first place votes, 9 second place votes, 0 third place votes
VJ Edgecombe: 0 first place votes, 0 second place votes, 11 third place votes
Not all voters’ official ballots have been confirmed since some names just revealed their first-place pick. Former head coach Stan Van Gundy admitted voting for Flagg in first and Knueppel in second place, but he didn’t reveal his third-place selection.
Many of the ballots shared so far have this discrepancy to only give us a strong idea of first and second place. Flagg and Knueppel are just one vote apart to show this will be among the most competitive Rookie of the Years votes in recent history.
Why This Is Surprising For Cooper Flagg
The final month of the season featured Flagg having a stronger run than Knueppel to make him the strong favorite. Flagg’s hot play made him the new betting favorite to reach -250 betting odds just two weeks ago in early April.
The Dallas Mavericks have gone out of their way to highlight Flagg since head coach Jason Kidd admitted that the Rookie of the Year race was a driving force for his coaching. Flagg averaged 25.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game over his final 15 games, taking out the final game where he played just 10 minutes.
Knueppel has averaged just 14.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in that time frame to show his play dropping a little in the final month. Flagg looking like the much better player and becoming the favorite makes it more surprising the voting appears to be heading to a split for the first-place spot.
Why Voters Are Still Supporting Knueppel
The Charlotte Hornets having their best season in many years and finishing the season convinced a lot of voters to lean towards Knueppel. Many of the NBA minds who cast a vote for Knueppel believe that he was more consistent all season and contributed to winning basketball.
Flagg entered the season with the Mavericks hoping to make a playoff spot with Anthony Davis and a potentially returning Kyrie Irving on the roster. Dallas’ struggles early led to them falling apart and trading Davis at the trade deadline for a cheap package in return.
Some voters are leaning towards Knueppel for the winning and all-around play from the first month of the season working in his favor. Flagg still has one more vote than Knueppel with many voters yet to reveal their vote. The race should be considered near 50/50 with Flagg having the slight advantage.
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