Sometimes, NBA teams hinge their hopes on rookies who may save the franchise from irrelevance. The league revolves around high-end talent, especially when it comes from highly touted classes.
Yes, you have the occasional star that comes from way down the pecking order of his class. However, the topmost tiers of ability, the true superstars, are almost exclusively lottery picks who either had an immediate impact or have shown a clear trajectory of progress.
The 2025/26 class was quite an interesting one. It had good talent all around, but the hype was mostly about the #1 player. It also came after an admittedly underwhelming one, especially at its top.
For this article, we have selected the most important rookies to have stood out throughout their debut campaigns. Some have proven transformative, while others have shown enough promise to hope for long and impactful careers, even if they don’t necessarily reach All-NBA peaks.
A surge in hope for franchises that sorely needed it
The theme for many of these drafts, especially those that feature quite a bit of talent at the top, is that things will start moving more positively via tone-setting selections.
Teams hope that having a superstar in the making can attract coaches and free agents looking to play for a franchise with a future for contention. Others are looking to build young cores with an accumulation of capital and nurturing a cost-effective roster going forward.
In other cases, some teams are looking for a sliver of hope, or just a piece that would restart a brand that has lacked the magnetic presence that it used to have. San Antonio lost Duncan to retirement, and then Leonard to a debacle, and then lucked into Victor Wembanyama.
Not every type of pick has to be a savior. Sometimes, it’s just about adding talent on top of an existing structure. It’s about creating the image of progress, selling tickets, and ensuring that there is value in the basketball product. When even gambling, together with its leveraged no deposit casino bonus codes, is throwing partnership money for the increase in the league’s revenue, every team wants to attract as many eyes as possible.
Two Blue Devils duked it out for Rookie of the Year honors
Pun intended. Let’s move on.
The stories behind these two draft selections were interesting. They were teammates at one of the most storied (and hated) college basketball programs at Duke. Under Jon Scheyer’s tutelage, they performed well enough to become top-4 picks, and the hype translated.
Cooper Flagg
Despite quite a few voices saying that he didn’t really deserve to win the Rookie of the Year award, Cooper Flagg had a tremendous rookie season. He averaged 21 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game with relatively okay shooting splits, which is something that will need a bit of polish.
The hardest part of Flagg’s season was the atmosphere. In general, when a jackpot-type asset like this kid ends up as the face of your franchise after a disappointing season, you’d think that the fan base rejoices.
Well, not in this case. Instead, everybody was still mourning the Luka Doncic trade, especially in light of the trade return, centered around Anthony Davis, proving almost worthless. The trade was a shock whose response was Dallas winning the lottery, which fueled even more conspiracy theories.
Flagg had to play among boos aimed at then-GM Nico Harrison (fired, in the meantime). Head coach Jason Kidd, who also left the franchise at the end of the season, had to reckon with a gutted, injured, and somewhat aimless roster.
Despite taking a bit of time to get his feet under him, Flagg proved why he came with the hype that he did. He also broke a few records, becoming the youngest ever player to score at least 50 points in a game, and improved throughout the season.
If Flagg continues to ascend to the potential that he’s already shown, the questions about the legitimacy of this ROY merit will be water under the bridge. The Mavericks have their guy.
Kon Knueppel
Thankfully for him, Kon Knueppel’s story is a bit more straightforward. As a wing that entered the 2025 NBA Draft after an excellent season at Duke, Kon joined a Charlotte Hornets team that, outside of Lamelo Ball and a few other contributors, didn’t really have much going for it, and the results were certainly not what they wanted.
Kon looked good from the preseason, winning the Summer League and then started off his campaign in the regular season. Despite strong performances, Charlotte was ailing once again. The most important saving grace was the fact that Knueppel was shooting lights-out, becoming the fastest player to reach 100 made 3-pointers.
As the season progressed, the team bought into Charles Lee’s system and methods, which meant a surge in form, results, and contention status. Ultimately, Charlotte missed entering the main playoff picture, but the future looked extremely bright.
In individual terms, Kon broke Charlotte’s franchise record for 3-points in a single season, and also ended up with 273 such baskets, leading the league altogether (another record). He made 42.5% of his treys, and, with a strong development of his overall game, he should become a really interesting player in the NBA.
Lottery picks contributing to playoff teams
Unlike the Duke boys, the other top-4 picks ended up on rosters that made the playoffs. As of writing this article, one of them is in the Conference Finals.
Dylan Harper
Very rarely do you see a team with contender aspirations end up with a talent like Harper, but Dylan could not have hoped for a better place to land.
He joined a squad characterized by length, especially given that rotational guards like Devin Vassell and Stephon Castle are quite tall, not to mention Wemby himself. Playing under the newly anointed full-time coach Mitch Johnson, the team went from a surging collection of young talent to one of the best teams in the league.
Dylan Harper had no small part in it. His physical profile meshes well in the context of good defense, but he also has rim-rolling ability and rebounding sense. His vision as a facilitator is also excellent, which makes him the prototypical big guard that can operate at any level on the perimeter.
He is still competing in the playoffs, proving why his form and contribution have built up toward a high impact in the post-season.
VJ Edgecombe
VJ was another highly-touted recruit who entered the NCAA circuit with high hopes. He did very well for Baylor, showcasing a level of commitment to basketball that has garnered praise and, without a doubt, hype.
This is why the 76ers, looking to return to playoff contention under Nick Nurse, took him 3rd overall in this class. He generated a lot of buzz for his debut performance, dropping 34 points and 7 rebounds in a win against the Celtics, the archenemesis of his team.
His energetic play was a tone-setting attitude for Philly, albeit his performances lacked the consistency needed for better counting stats and a more direct contention for the ROY trophy. Nevertheless, he made a very positive impact, and that’s why he placed 3rd in the voting for the award.
VJ Edgecombe was also a very good contributor during Philadelphia’s playoff series win over Boston. While the Sixers lost in the 2nd round, they got a player who, for the foreseeable future, can complement Tyrese Maxey and help Joel Embiid close out his career with some playoff success.
The somewhat unsung heroes of this class
While these players ended up in the All-Rookie teams of this season, their profiles were significantly lower than those selected higher. Nevertheless, they have proven themselves as excellent debutants and key contributors.
Maxime Raynaud
The Parisian Raynaud began his junior career at Nanterre 92 as a teammate to Wembanyama, and then enrolled at Stanford, where he played a now-rare full collegiate cycle.
Raynaud is the only second-round pick in our list, having played the beginning part of the season for the Stockton Kings, the G League affiliate of Sacramento. He got his big break once Sabonis got injured, starting to put up good points over the course of the season.
As the season progressed, Raynaud even captured a Rookie of the Month distinction, ending his season with 12 PPG and 7 RPG, scoring over 55% FG. His ability to ramp up his game, not to mention his coachability, has garnered praise. If he can also improve his defensive capabilities, he should have a long career in the NBA.
Cedric Coward
In the age of the one-and-done player, Cedric Coward was a revelation. He started his career in Division III, and then got his break at Eastern Washington, where he, again, played really well. His last college stop was Washington State, where he played only 6 games before falling to an injury.
Despite initially committing to transferring to Duke, Coward kept his name as part of the draft cycle, and the Blazers rewarded this decision by selecting him 11th overall in the first round but later traded him for a package around fellow rookie Yang Hansen.
Cedric Coward played very well for a Memphis team that went through plenty of doldrums. He was a good contributor throughout his rookie season, putting up decent shooting splits for a rookie and becoming a valuable wing for the team, rounding out the All-Rookie First Team alongside Flagg, Knueppel, Edgecombe, and Harper.
Other interesting rookie campaigns
These are, by modern definitions, our honorable mentions. These players made up the rest of the All-Rookie Second Team alongside Raynaud, and we added another player due to his notable impact throughout the season.
- Ace Bailey: The Rutgers product was the #2 player in his recruiting class, behind only Flagg and right above Harper. His refusal to work out during the pre-draft process drew some flak, and one of the teams he declined, the Utah Jazz, still took him anyway. Bailey needs to sharpen his efficiency, but the output was pretty good.
- Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen: We’re putting these guys in the same entry because they were teammates. Fears was among the youngest players in the league, had some standout scoring games, and played in all 82 games. If he can become a more efficient scorer, he’ll be good. Queen, a Baltimore native who played for Maryland in college, did quite well for a rookie center with non-elite length, rounding out a good rookie class for the Pelicans.
- Tre Johnson: As yet another player drafted high (#6 by the Wizards), Johnson had a fine season stats-wise, but his shooting splits also need to improve. He can be a good addition to Washington’s ambitions of climbing back into relevancy, especially if he can work alongside the other Trae who’s playing in Washington.
- Collin Murray-Boyles: Outside of a lone high-school season in Mount Pleasant, Utah, Murray-Boyles spent his entire life in the Columbia, SC area. Once he entered the draft, he ended up in another country. His stats didn’t necessarily pop, but his efficiency (outside of his free throws) was quite good, and he was also a very good contributor in the playoff round that the Raptors narrowly lost to the Cavs.
Conclusion
Now is the time to wrap up this article. The main takeaway is that this was a good class that navigated the bane of growing pains, but also produced new records, which shows that the game is still advancing.
