2025-26 NBA Rookie Discussion Thread

[Doranku]

Harper looks like he's going to be a two way player, he can really move his feet on defense.

He also looks extremely polished and confident attacking the rim for a rookie. I know it's the Nets but I'm already sold on him from this game alone. Very high ceiling for this kid.

[G R E Y]

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[G R E Y]

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[MrBigShot]

Harper can ball

[ConSarnit]

Very odd Egor Demin stat over 3 games:

16 total FGA. ALL from 3.

[Handlez]

Cooooooop

[Duke4life831]

Flagg put up 22/4/4 with no TOVs and defended 1-4 tonight. And he kind of showed everything tonight. 3pt shot, facilitating, attacking the rim in the half court, the big time poster dunk in transition, and again legit defending 1-4 (not just a couple positions on a switch).

Crazy to think, in 2035 he will only be 28 years old.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Flagg put up 22/4/4 with no TOVs and defended 1-4 tonight. And he kind of showed everything tonight. 3pt shot, facilitating, attacking the rim in the half court, the big time poster dunk in transition, and again legit defending 1-4 (not just a couple positions on a switch).

Crazy to think, in 2035 he will only be 28 years old.

He's only a couple weeks older than Dybantsa and Peterson. For all intents and purposes he's basically the age of a lot of the HS to Pro guys.

[Duke4life831]

Flagg put up 22/4/4 with no TOVs and defended 1-4 tonight. And he kind of showed everything tonight. 3pt shot, facilitating, attacking the rim in the half court, the big time poster dunk in transition, and again legit defending 1-4 (not just a couple positions on a switch).

Crazy to think, in 2035 he will only be 28 years old.

He's only a couple weeks older than Dybantsa and Peterson. For all intents and purposes he's basically the age of a lot of the HS to Pro guys.

Yup. He’s like a week older than LeBron was as a rookie. He’s basically as young as it can get for a rookie nowadays.

Also makes it that much crazier that he was able to dominate college last year, where he played about 1/3 of the season as a 17 year old.

[DCasey91]

Coop, VJ, and Dyl were all fantastic and pro ready in College their maturity is beyond how old they are great draft class no doubt about it.

[Trey24]

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Knueppel has impressed the heck out of me. 15 ppg 56% from the field 58% from 3. Tied for most 3s in first 3 games in NBA history (11). It just seems like he has played in the NBA for years when you watch him.

Also Sion James and Kalkbrenner both being legit rotation players through 3 games is very promising for the Hornets. Sion James is already the team's best perimeter defender and looks to be the perfect "Dort-esque" player for the Hornets.

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[Duke4life831]

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Knueppel has impressed the heck out of me. 15 ppg 56% from the field 58% from 3. Tied for most 3s in first 3 games in NBA history (11). It just seems like he has played in the NBA for years when you watch him.

Also Sion James and Kalkbrenner both being legit rotation players through 3 games is very promising for the Hornets. Sion James is already the team's best perimeter defender and looks to be the perfect "Dort-esque" player for the Hornets.

Honestly I have no clue how Sion dropped to the 2nd round. I know he went really early 2nd, but he seems like the ideal player teams late in the 1st go for.

He’s never going to be an all star, but the dude is just so damn solid. 6’5 built like a freaking tank, high level athlete and is fully bought into defense and just doing whatever is asked of him. He doesn’t make mistakes on either end. Again high level defender, and on offense is a capable spot up shooter and doesn’t take any bad shots and is very smart with the ball.

He’s got 10-15 year career and whatever team he’s on during his career, every fan base is going to love him

[amcoolio]

Yeah so Kon is immediately a pretty strong glue guy and he's played 3 NBA games. Can't wait to see the RPM later in the season. Hornets just play winning ball when he's on the court.

I was against the pick becuase when you are picking 4, you want upside. But this is clearly the best development for LaMelo, who is posting ridiculous numbers when Kon is in the game

[Mr Puddles]

Knueppel is so good announcers might actually have to start learning how to pronounce his name, instead of continuing to call him "k-nipple"

[Domejandro]

I for one am shocked that Cooper Flagg isn't a bust, despite having a mediocre first performance playing out of position against an elite defensive line-up centered by a 7'5" freak of nature.

[ball_takes23]

this is easily the best rookie class since 2018

[PlatinumState]

Flagg already feeling comfortable out there. Still 18 mind you. He might just have a future in the league

[FrodoBaggins]

Cooper has hit 21/21 FTs, including the preseason. I really like his shooting upside. Form is smooth, great arc, solid rotation, soft release, very balanced base. 87.7% FT over his last 27 college games. 44.4% 3PT, too. I'm sticking to my prediction of him developing into an 85%+ FT, 37-40%+ 3PT, 45%+ mid-range guy with good diversity of pull-up, movement catch-and-shoot, and spot-up catch-and-shoot. Something like Kawhi.

[Ice Man]

This draft class is insane. Obviously, I haven't done the work (nobody has), but I feel very confident in saying that no draft class in the modern era, meaning one-and-done guys, has ever had so many 20+ point games during the first week of the season. I mean, sheesh. We already have about 10 players who would have been leading the ROY discussion at this point last season.

[Jstock12]

Very odd Egor Demin stat over 3 games:

16 total FGA. ALL from 3.

They know he has a bad handle and no first step to speak of, so he can't really beat his man and get any separation. So they're trying to turn him into a shooter who can move the ball a little bit. Hopefully he develops that handle and his athleticism. It would be a shame to not maximize that vision he has, which is truly elite.