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Cooper Flagg vs Kon Knueppel last night felt like an instant classic and it’s wild that this was two NBA rookies going at each other like that.

Flagg went for 49 and 10, Knueppel answered with 34 on lights-out shooting (both historic rookie performances),and neither hesitated. Every run got met with a response. It never felt like one guy catching fire while the other faded, it felt like a duel.

What stood out was how natural it looked. Flagg imposing himself whenever he wanted, Knueppel calmly punishing space and keeping pace possession after possession. No overthinking, no easing in.

If this is a preview of what these two are going to be, the league just got a lot more interesting.

Novel_Scallion_1580

77 | 9 hours ago

Can’t imagine scoring 49 points in the NBA as a teenager, only to lose to another rookie having a career game.

AWellDeployedWink

15 | 9 hours ago

Charlotte is coming up fast

a_moniker | Hornets

12 | 6 hours ago

Coop lost to three of his former teammates as well lol

DropYourPuffs

41 | 9 hours ago

The future of USA 2028 right in our eyes

lialialia20 | Timberwolves

39 | 9 hours ago

34 points on 16 shots sheesh

007Superstar

17 | 9 hours ago

91% TS

YoJoeCool | Washington Bullets

9 | 8 hours ago

At one point I think he had 28 points on 10 shots in the 3rd. It was ridiculous

ugotnorizzatall

4 | 8 hours ago

Well at least 2k is accurate… The MF never misses! 😂😫

erldn123

24 | 9 hours ago

All time rookie match up for sure.

In what appears to be potentially an all time rookie class.

You’ve got at least 5 guys that would have won it last year. Can’t recall many 3rd best rookies all time better than VJ.

And at least 3 great prospects coming up in this draft too.

SuperFlyinMonke

4 | 9 hours ago

I agree, fully… I love this class

AngularPenny5 | Hornets

17 | 9 hours ago

I’m still miffed about how the lottery shook out (keeping Flagg in NC just felt right) but damn is Kon a sweet consolation prize.

Both of these dudes are legit.

Rillaboom2701 | Hornets

1 | 3 hours ago

dude having kon over coop js feels right tbh

LaMelonBallz | Hornets

1 | an hour ago

I don’t think this team turns out the same as it is right now with Coop instead of Kon.

Kon is just a superb fit in so many ways

Hydronixz

9 | 9 hours ago

Even without hindsight I felt kon should of gone number 2 in the draft just the eye test when he played without Flagg in duke games

dank-kush | Hornets

11 | 8 hours ago

Ppl think he heavily relies on playing off guys like miller and Lamelo but he’s still avging 22/6/2 on 63% TS when Lamelo doesn’t play (10 game sample size)

Supreme_God_Bunny | Hornets

1 | 4 hours ago

His stats indeed go up when lamelo plays

dank-kush | Hornets

1 | 4 hours ago

They don’t tho his ts% goes up 1% while his stats drop to 18/4/2

Supreme_God_Bunny | Hornets

1 | 4 hours ago

Kon has been going through a weird rollercoaster of games, He was kinda slumping not so long ago

dank-kush | Hornets

1 | 4 hours ago

At that point it’s just cherry picking, u take the good with the bad if we just exclude all his bad games we can pretend like he shoots like 55/45/95 or something.

DankMemesNQuickNuts | Charlotte Bobcats

3 | 6 hours ago

People way over index on athleticism for prospects imo.

I get it because you can’t coach it but if being a good athlete was all you needed to be great Scoot Henderson would have been the best player in his class and Larry Bird would have been a scrub

BetweenCoffeeNSleep

9 | 8 hours ago

Kon with 0 turnovers and 0 fouls, while guarding. He does a surprisingly great job with arm discipline on defense, contesting and torso bump/retreat without letting his arms get him cheap fouls.

Portland fan here, but I love watching Kon play.

Secret_Safety7686

6 | 9 hours ago

Remember when Sixers fans were saying Edgecombe will be ROY?

ConorOblast | Thunder

8 | 6 hours ago

Edgecombe looks really good though. It’s just an insane rookie class.

Secret_Safety7686

3 | 6 hours ago

No doubt. I’m super high on Edgecombe. I think he has a higher ceiling than Kon. I just find it amusing that Philly fans were so quick to crown him as the ROY so early.

RDLAWME

1 | 6 hours ago

All of the hot takes after the first two weeks of the season look absolutely ridiculous now.

nighhawkrr

3 | 8 hours ago

Great sports night coupled with epic tennis battles at the AO

butekoo | Hornets

2 | 8 hours ago

Yeah, this game can become a classic when we look back in both of those guys careers.

simhoop | DAL

2 | 8 hours ago

Yes, we did. Flagg getting an insane 49 points (on 69 FG%!!!!) was amazing but, even as a Mavs fan, that Knueppel shooting was ridiculous!

ReBol2n | Suns

1 | 8 hours ago

American white coming back.

Minimum-Ad-8056

1 | 6 hours ago

If coop had one decent sidekick in that game at 20 points they win. That’s all he needed

ChemicalSchedule2642

1 | 4 hours ago

Exciting whites

oakium9 | Supersonics

1 | 4 hours ago

I wonder how much psychologically being former teammates just a year ago had to do with their nights.

[deleted]

-3 | 9 hours ago

[deleted]

CWHappyHusband

3 | 9 hours ago

It was the third-most combined points ever scored by opposing rookies in a single game, and the most in over 50 years. That has nothing to do with the color of their skin

WasteAd7284

3 | 9 hours ago

They’re both extremely talented. “White america wants them to succeed” insanely irrelevant because they actually are that good.

WhoUCuh

-2 | 9 hours ago

Who said they are not good?

My comment is about Flagg being the next great white superstar. Remember when Larry Bird was that guy for the nba?

I’m basically saying Flagg being white is going to take the NBA to another level. In a country that’s majority white it is good for business that your face of the league is white.

People can ignore racism, but their are plenty of examples of fans being racist to black players. Let’s not act like racism is not in every sport.

WasteAd7284

1 | 8 hours ago

Ok potential fan racism has nothing to do with these 2, if they were black they’d still be highly praised. Stop trying to be a sociologist, you’re bad at it.

Who is ignoring racism?, the people praising them are already fans of an 80% black league. There is ZERO evidence that these 2 are making racist white people watch the nba.

If you are going to make claims back em up. It says something that no commentators have brought this up, even ones who would normally do something like this.

Shaqdaddy22 | Warriors

3 | 9 hours ago

Hey look, a racist!

kavolsm

-17 | 9 hours ago

The game really should have went to overtime so Flagg could get 50 but the refs just had to intervene smh.

PrimeTimeInc | Hornets

12 | 9 hours ago

The what? There was nothing even debatable in those last few possessions.

Hoopy_Dunkalot | Mavericks

-7 | 9 hours ago

Ehhh, that foul on coop where the ball got stuck was iffy. Not yell at the TV, but “let them play” iffy. If they were bona fide Superstars at this point in their careers that wouldn’t have been called.

PrimeTimeInc | Hornets

4 | 9 hours ago

Agree to disagree. Can’t just body dudes ob when they’re going up for a layup

xbuzzedx | Hornets

4 | 9 hours ago

You think Kon would’ve missed an easy layup if he wasn’t body checked?

Did we just get an all-time rookie vs rookie matchup with Cooper Flagg vs Kon Knueppel?