Jason Kidd just said the quiet part out loud about Cooper Flagg's Mavericks season

Jason Kidd always backs up his players up when it matters most.

Will Miller

Dallas Mavericks, Cooper Flagg, Jason Kidd / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Cooper Flagg seemed like the runaway winner for the NBA Rookie of the Year award through the early part of 2026, especially after a dominant 49-point performance versus the Charlotte Hornets and Kon Knueppel on January 29. However, Knueppel has since taken the mantle as the favorite to win the award in the media, following steady play and the Hornets surging above .500, but Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd thinks Flagg should still be the favorite to win the award.

"This is a partnership, and Cooper has to do his part. And he's been doing his part," Kidd said. "He's having a historic year as a rookie. When you put his numbers up against past rookies who have won the award, it's clear-cut that it's not even close that he is the one that will win Rookie of the Year."

Regardless of one's opinion about Kidd, he notoriously backs his players regarding awards or when facing criticism from the media, so it's great to see he has Flagg's best interest in mind, as many Mavericks fans would second Kidd's opinion. Rookie of the Year has never been an award that is weighed heavily in regard to a team's win percentage, but for some reason, media members are trending toward this with Knueppel.

Kidd backs Flagg as clear ROTY favorite over Knueppel

The Hornets haven't been a playoff team for quite some time, and Knueppel's impact on their success can't be disregarded, but they ultimately have a far better roster than the Mavericks do, especially given it's been another injury-riddled season in Dallas. Knueppel is averaging nearly 19 points per game, while creeping on 50/40/90 shooting splits, but it's very hard to make the argument that he impacts winning on a larger scale compared to Flagg.

Flagg is averaging 20.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 0.9 blocks, and 1.2 steals per game with shooting splits of 47.4/28.6/81.4, all while playing out of his natural position in many contests. Flagg's two-way ability as a dynamic wing is something that every NBA team would covet, and there's no doubt the national media would view him as the favorite to win the award if the Mavericks had a better team.

It's wild to see ex-college roommates in Flagg and Knueppel clash centerstage in the Rookie of the Year race, and it makes for a compelling storyline for fans and voters, but Kidd is 100 percent correct in that Flagg is deserving of winning the award.

The media consensus unfairly favors Knueppel for ROTY

The 65 minimum game rule doesn't apply to Rookie of the Year, and while Knueppel will ultimately play in more games than Flagg this season, Flagg projects to still cross the 65-game threshold easily, so that's another counterargument that can be dispelled. Knueppel is an extremely efficient shooter and will be an offensive engine for a long time, but taking Charlotte's success over Dallas out of the equation, most talking heads would pick Flagg as the victor of the award instead.

Flagg impacts the game more in every area compared to Knueppel, besides 3-point and free-throw shooting, so it will truly be unfortunate if voters let winning percentage and team situation dictate who ultimately wins the award.

Flagg has done as good a job as possible after being placed in a fireball to start the season in Dallas, so voters should take his perseverance and adaptability into consideration as well. At the very least, at least the Mavericks' organization and Kidd have Flagg's back, even if voters ultimately choose not to.

Will Miller

Will Miller is a senior contributor and is in his second year with The Smoking Cuban. Will has been following the Dallas Mavericks for over a decade and is currently working on getting a Bachelors in Science in Sports Journalism from the University of North Texas, as he is also covering sports for the North Texas TV station. While Will is opening up his coverage to cover other sports for UNT, basketball and the Dallas Mavericks are his true passion and he hopes to continue writing and producing Mavericks related content as his career continues. Will has very solid in-game analysis and knowledge about the intricacies of the game, and has a very broad understanding about the NBA as a whole. Going forward Will is looking to be more expansive in his coverage of the Mavericks beyond writing as well. Outside of writing about the Mavericks, Will enjoys hanging with friends, going to the gym, and watching other sports and live events.