Sportsbooks Struggling to Handicap NBA Rookie of the Year Race

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Sportsbooks are struggling to handicap one of the best Rookie of the Year races in NBA history, thanks to the excellence of Kon Knueppel and Cooper Flagg.

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Flagg is currently the odds-on favorite at major sportsbooks, despite Knueppel, his roommate at Duke, claiming a massive lead as recently as Sunday.

Key Takeaways

Odds flipped to Flagg after two huge games, despite a recent poll among voters favoring Knueppel.

Last year’s Rookie of the Year winner (Stephon Castle) was picked fourth, just like Knueppel.

The Charlotte Hornets face three top-five defenses to close their season.

Knueppel was a strong favorite to take home the NBA’s award for the most impressive first-timer in the league. That was compounded Friday when ESPN shared a straw poll of 100 league media members conducted Monday through Wednesday last week.

The results showed that Knueppel received 80 first-place, 19 second-place, and one third-place vote, resulting in 458 total points. Flagg received 20 first-place votes, 79 seconds, and one third, for 338 points, only 74% of his college teammate’s total. Philadelphia 76ers guard VJ Edgecombe was third with 98 points.

The results of the poll empowered DraftKings to shorten Knueppel’s odds from -250 on April 1 to -300 two days later when the results were released.

Knueppel became an even larger favorite (-330) on Sunday morning, despite Flagg becoming the youngest player in NBA history to score at least 50 points (51) on a Friday night loss to the Orlando Magic. Those odds gave him an implied 76.7% chance to win the award, while Flagg’s +230 odds translated to a 30.3% probability.

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Everything changed on Monday, one day after Flagg followed his 51-point explosion with 45 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds in a nationally televised matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers. He flipped to a -200 (66.7% chance) favorite at DraftKings overnight, and Knueppel ballooned to +140 (41.7% chance).

The total instability in the Rookie of the Year odds leaves everything to play for during the final week…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/sportsbooks-struggling-handicap-nba-rookie-151900325.html

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Publish date : 2026-04-07 15:19:00

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