After a breakout season, Cooper Flagg is taking home some hardware.
The No. 1 overall pick by the Dallas Mavericks was named the 2025-26 Rookie of the Year, the NBA announced on Monday.
Flagg led all first-year players — and Dallas — in scoring with 21.0 points per game over 70 regular-season appearances. His 6.7 rebounds were third among rookies, 4.5 assists were tied-first and 1.2 steals were tied-third.
Despite his newness to the league, the Mavericks forward proved himself as a prolific scorer with four games of more than 40 points. His 51-point performance against the Orlando Magic in early April made Flagg the first teen in NBA history to eclipse 50 points in a game.
The 19-year-old is the third Maverick to win the award, joining his head coach Jason Kidd (1994-95 — tie) and Luka Doncic (2018-19).
According to Mavs PR, Flagg joined Michael Jordan and Doncic as the only rookies in the last 45 years to average at least 20 points, six rebounds and four assists. He also led Dallas in total points (1,473), rebounds (466), assists (316) and steals (84) — the only player in the NBA to lead his team in all four categories this season, joining Jordan as the only rookies ever to do so.
Flagg won the award in what ended up as a tight race among voters, beating out fellow finalists Kon Knueppel (Charlotte Hornets) and VJ Edgecombe (Philadelphia 76ers).
The Mavericks forward received 56 of 100 first-place votes, with the remaining 44 going to his former Duke teammate Knueppel. Edgecombe received the majority of third-place votes with 93.
San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper and Memphis Grizzlies forward Cedric Coward also received third-place votes.
According to the NBA, the 26-point gap between Flagg and Knueppel in voting is the second-smallest gap among finishers since the current voting format was implemented in 2002-03. The first was in 2021-22, when Scottie Barnes (Toronto Raptors) won the award over Evan Mobley (Cleveland Cavaliers) by a total of 15 points.