Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel were major contributors to Duke’s run last season. The former roommates treated each other as “brothers” and helped the Blue Devils reach the Final Four of an NCAA Tournament for the first time under coach Jon Scheyer.
Flagg and Knueppel went on to become lottery picks in the 2025 NBA Draft and have been impressive rookies for the Dallas Mavericks and Charlotte Hornets, respectively. Even though they are on different NBA teams, their brotherhood from Duke remains to this day.
Cooper Flagg Purchases $7,000 Worth of Autographed Kon Knueppel Trading Cards
Flagg, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, showed a different way to support his Duke “brother” by visiting a trading card shop and buying cards featuring Knueppel. Some of these cards were manually signed by the shooting forward to verify their authenticity.
The Dallas Mavericks’ prized rookie spent $7,000 on Knueppel’s cards, and sports card and collectibles manufacturer Topps posted a video on social media showing the 6’9″ Flagg transacting with a card dealer and purchasing those cards.
“Seven grand, huh? Do I like Kon that much? I don’t know. Yeah, we can do that,” Flagg said. “These are for my collection now.”
Cooper Flagg made the comments during Topps Rip Night, an annual celebration of the sports trading card and memorabilia hobby, held at the Iny Sports Cards in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Saturday, February 21.
Over 100,000 fans and collectors around the globe descended upon more than 800 hobby shops from 25 countries. Fans of all ages were able to meet and interact with their idols, who took photos, participated in Q&As, ripped packs, and traded cards from their personal collections.
As of the time of posting, Topps’ post featuring Flagg had reached more than one million views and had received over 4,800 likes and 400 retweets.
Flagg and Knueppel are strong candidates for the Rookie of the Year award. This season, Flagg has appeared in 49 games with the Mavericks, averaging 20.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game while shooting 48% from the field and 30% from three-point range. The Newport, Maine, native typically plays small forward for the Jason Kidd-coached Mavericks but had stints at point guard early in the season.
MORE: Some NBA Owners Believed the 2025 Draft Lottery Was ‘Fixed’ To Send Cooper Flagg to Mavericks
On the other hand, the 6’7″ Knueppel has played 56 games for the Hornets and has helped the team open the court with his long-range bombs. He has tallied 19.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 48.5% from the field and 43.3% from the 3-point line, plus a 90% free-throw shooting clip.
The Mavericks are 12th in the Western Conference standings at 20-36 and would need Flagg and his teammates to orchestrate a late-season surge in the final third of the regular season just to make the play-in rounds.
On the other hand, Knueppel and the Hornets are hanging on to the last play-in spot in the East at 10th place with a 27-31 mark. They are 1 1/2 games ahead of the Milwaukee Bucks and three ahead of the Chicago Bulls.
The best friends-slash-brothers hope to make the postseason to prove their legitimacy as the future of the NBA, and they will need to perform beyond what they’re asked to achieve another goal together as rookies.
