Popular Charlotte Hornets rising star Kon Knueppel may have an advantage to win Rookie of the Year over Cooper Flagg after many voters shared their voting. A tracker shows the votes from end of season NBA award voters publicly stating who they picked for various awards. 31 of 100 voters have revealed their first-place vote for Rookie of the Year.
Knueppel currently has 16 confirmed votes in first place with Flagg trailing by one behind him with 15 total votes. 69 voters have yet to give their answer, so it’s still anyone’s game. However, betting odds shifted drastically in favor of Flagg during the final month of the season due to his incredible play reaching new high levels.
It didn’t help that Knueppel struggled to end the season and failed to make the playoffs via the play-in race. Both players trending in different directions towards the end of the season made Flagg the strong favorite.
This makes it more surprising that Knueppel has more votes than Flagg from the names comfortable enough to share their official votes. Every voter to share their top two has confirmed only these two received consideration.
Cooper Flagg Still Favorite To Win Award
The betting odds still show oddsmakers favoring Flagg as the top Rookie of the Year favorite to take home the award. Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd went out of his way to put Flagg in a position to succeed and gain more momentum in the race with dominant individual performances.
Oddschecker shows Flagg as the clear betting favorite with -170 odds compared to Knueppel’s +200 odds. Gamblers are putting money on Flagg to show that most believe he is still going to win Rookie of the Year, despite what the current voting tally says. A lot more voters will have to declare Knueppel their pick to change the odds.
Another strong aspect of this race is that Flagg is obviously the better player between the two. Flagg went first in the NBA Draft and looked like he may be an All-Star as soon as next season. Knueppel played a smaller role and had more team success, but players like Flagg typically get the benefit of the doubt in similar scenarios.
This Could Be A Historically Close Race
History has shown us that ties are possible in the Rookie of the Year voting during the closest NBA races. 2000 featured both Elton Brand and Steve Francis sharing the award as co-winners due to a tied final vote.
Jason Kidd and Grant Hill also had the same scenario unfolding when they tied in voting to co-win the 1995 Rookie of the Year Award. Kidd is hoping that his new superstar Flagg doesn’t suffer the same fate as he did of sharing the award with another tremendous rookie.
The back and forth race all season showed voters viewing Knueppel and Flagg as the only candidates. Philadelphia 76ers rookie VJ Edgecombe is expected to finish in third and has received every single third place vote revealed from the voters so far.
Kon Knueppel Gains Unexpected Rookie Of The Year Advantage