Cooper Flagg sat alone on his couch on Monday night with his family around him, waiting like everyone else for an envelope to be opened on television. By the time the Dallas Mavericks gathered media at their facility on Wednesday, the No. 1 pick had been confirmed as the 2025-26 NBA Rookie of the Year, and the franchise was ready to throw him a moment.
"I think it means everything," Flagg said. "This award and this recognition is something that all rookies come into the year fighting for, competing for, and they're trying to put their best foot forward for this award. So just the recognition means a lot to me. All the hard work, all the hours that I put in throughout the year, throughout the years previous, all the hours that I've put in my whole life, just to get to this moment. It shows that it's all worth it."
The trophy itself carries some history. It is named the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy, and as the Mavericks pointed out from the lectern, Flagg and Wilt are the only rookies in NBA history to score 96 points across a span of two games. He also follows his head coach into a small club: Jason Kidd, the 1994-95 co-Rookie of the Year, was on hand to congratulate him along with teammates Kyrie Irving, Derek Lively, Max Christie, Caleb Martin and Brandon Williams. Irving, of course, won the same award in 2011-12.
Flagg's only real competition for the Kia trophy was his old Duke teammate Kon Knueppel, who finished second. The two stayed in touch all season but never let the award itself crowd the friendship.
"Me and Kon, we talked all year long. But we never talked about the rookie of the year or what people were saying about any of that," Flagg said. "It was more just support for one another and staying in contact. He's somebody that will be one of my best friends the rest of my life."
One of the most striking things about Flagg's first season was the role Kidd put him in. The Mavericks asked the 19-year-old wing to play substantial minutes at point guard for stretches of the schedule, an unusual ask for a player still adjusting to NBA spacing.
"As a player I'm always ready for a challenge," Flagg said. "Something that I've always prided myself on is just doing whatever it takes to win. So it was just another challenge and being prepared to do what I had to do to help the team win in any way possible. Coach Kidd has an incredible eye for the game and he reads the game at a high level. So just to trust in him and trust myself and all the work that I put in. I was never worried or anything like that."
Flagg did not lean on a single signature game when asked to define his rookie year. He framed it instead as a long, jagged climb, with confidence as both the obstacle and the answer.
"There were moments throughout the year where I was at a low. There's a lot of lows obviously battling with the losses and struggling at times," he said. "But just having my support system around me, my family, my teammates, lifting me up and getting me through some of that stuff, just helped me with my confidence overall."
The Mavericks announced a $10,000 donation in Flagg's name to the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas, and the rookie's weekend itinerary takes a hard left out of basketball: he will drive the pace car at this Sunday's NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway.
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*Originally published on [NBA News Global](https://nbanews.global/article/cooper-flagg-rookie-of-the-year-2026-dallas-mavericks-wilt-trophy). Visit for full coverage.*
