{"id":1868077,"date":"2026-04-06T10:49:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T07:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1868077"},"modified":"2026-04-06T10:49:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T07:49:04","slug":"cooper-flagg-outduels-lebron-james-makes-another-rookie-of-the-year-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1868077","title":{"rendered":"Cooper Flagg outduels LeBron James, makes another Rookie of the Year statement"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DALLAS \u2014 On his way out of American Airlines Center on Sunday, LeBron James exchanged a hug with Cooper Flagg.<\/p>\n

After tallying 45 points, eight rebounds and nine assists, Flagg had just outdueled James in the Dallas Mavericks\u2019 134-128 win over the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>. Before finding the exit, James showed respect to a teenage rookie who, in many ways, is going through a similar experience to the one the NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer lived 22 years ago.<\/p>\n

Like Flagg, James was a No. 1 NBA draft pick who entered the league at 18 years old.<\/p>\n

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Like Flagg, James was a natural forward who had to endure growing pains when his coach played him heavy minutes at point guard early on.<\/p>\n

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\u201c(Jason) Kidd early on got a little scrutinized because they started him at point guard at times, and I thought that was unfair,\u201d said James, who had 30 points, 15 assists and nine rebounds on Sunday. \u201cI think it\u2019s great to put the ball in somebody\u2019s hands so they can just go through the rough patches. And when you go through the rough patches, it allows you to grow at a rate faster than other players.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what (Cleveland Cavaliers coach) Paul Silas, rest his soul, did for me. My rookie year, I basically started at point guard early on. He allowed me to make mistakes and make mistakes and make mistakes and play against tough defenses and stuff like that. So, I see similarities in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, there have been growing pains, but the beginning of Flagg\u2019s career has contained plenty of special moments. Flagg flirted with the first triple-double of his career Sunday, two days after he exploded for 51 points against the Orlando Magic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Flagg\u2019s 96 points over Easter weekend certainly strengthened his case against Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel in the NBA\u2019s Rookie of the Year race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s definitely some sort of statement,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cI\u2019m confident in myself. I know what I\u2019m capable of. I\u2019ll let the rest of the stuff figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

With 3:26 remaining in the fourth quarter Sunday, Flagg made a short turnaround jumper to give the Mavericks a 10-point lead. After that, Flagg went 4-for-4 on free throws, which allowed Dallas to keep Los Angeles at arm\u2019s length and put an end to its 14-game home losing streak.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t understand why anyone else can be Rookie of the Year,\u201d Mavericks forward P.J. Washington told The Athletic<\/em>. \u201cHe\u2019s done everything. Especially at his age. The things he\u2019s doing, it\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Knueppel \u2014 Flagg\u2019s college teammate and roommate at Duke \u2014 leads the NBA in 3-point makes and is averaging 18.8 points per game on a 64.4 true-shooting percentage. Flagg is averaging more points (20.8) on worse efficiency (55.0 true-shooting percentage) but also has more rebounds, assists, steals and blocks than Knueppel. In Washington\u2019s mind, part of the efficiency gap can be explained by how different the two rookies\u2019 roles are. Knueppel benefits from playing alongside Charlotte\u2019s primary on-ball creator, LaMelo Ball. Flagg is<\/em> the primary creator in Dallas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s two different ballparks,\u201d Washington said.\u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s 19, doing what he\u2019s doing. Being the main guy is a lot harder than being a rotational player hitting corner shots or just hitting 3s. He\u2019s initiating most of our offense. To be 19 doing that is unheard of.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"Does<\/p>\n
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\n Does Cooper Flagg or Kon Knueppel have the better Rookie of the Year resume?\n <\/div>\n
\n The college roommates each have strong cases for the league’s top first-year honor. Who has the edge with two weeks left in the season?\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

One aspect of the Rookie of the Year race is inarguable: Flagg, by far, has experienced the highest peaks of any first-year player. He\u2019s scored 40 points four times this season. No other rookie has eclipsed the 40-point mark once.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach time he looks across the floor, he\u2019s got one of the best defenders,\u201d Kidd said. \u201cFor him to be able to deliver, it\u2019s not easy. I know he makes it look easy; that\u2019s how special he is. Understanding it\u2019s only going to make him better as we get better as a team (and) as we get healthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking forward to next season, with Kyrie (Irving), D(ereck) Lively (II) coming back, a lottery pick \u2026 we have opportunities to get better. And also, having flexibility with cash to maybe get a free agent. As the roster gets healthy and we get better, he\u2019s only going to get better with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mavericks are 25-53 with four games remaining. Flagg said Sunday that so much losing will be one of the things he remembers most from his rookie season.<\/p>\n

At least he can take solace in the fact that even James \u2014 one of the NBA\u2019s all-time great players \u2014 had to endure losing early on. The Cavaliers had a 35-47 record in James\u2019 rookie season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, he\u2019s obviously special,\u201d James said about Flagg. \u201cI\u2019ve seen that all the way back to, like, the AAU days when he was coming up in the ranks and playing with his team out of Maine and he was doing the things that he was doing on the circuit. So, knew he was special from then, and he\u2019s just taken that, from what he was doing back home to the AAU circuit to Duke to now here, and he\u2019s getting better and better and better. Looks like he loves the game. He\u2019s putting in the work, and he\u2019s gotten better.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DALLAS \u2014 On his way out of American Airlines Center on Sunday, LeBron James exchanged a hug with Cooper Flagg. After tallying 45 points, eight rebounds and nine assists, Flagg had just outdueled James in the Dallas Mavericks\u2019 134-128 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Before finding the exit, James showed respect to a teenage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1868077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1868077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1868077\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1868077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1868077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1868077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}