The NBA season is almost here, and that means that all eyes will be on players, both young and experienced, to see who will step up to try to get their teams to achieve victory. Every rookie that was brought into the league via this year’s draft has a lot of pressure on them. After all, there are only two rounds in the NBA draft, and even if you were a second-round draft pick, that means they feel you have potential to do something great. For the NBA 2K simulator, it decided to make a prediction on who would win “Rookie of the Year” in the 2025-26 NBA season, and the results shouldn’t surprise those who have been watching basketball recently.
Specifically, the “winner” was none other than the No.1 draft pick, Cooper Flagg from Duke. If you don’t remember, he was the most touted player in college sports last year, and was a part of the prestigious Duke University. It took literally no time at all for people to think he would be the No.1 draft pick, and sure enough, he was. What made his situation even more ironic was that he went to the Dallas Mavericks, who had made one of the most shocking moves in NBA history when they traded one of the best players in the league, Luka Doncic, to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Seriously, no one saw that coming, and it still doesn’t make sense to this day. Even with Cooper coming in, Luka was a dominant force on the court and someone you don’t just “trade away.”
Focusing back on the world of video games, was the NBA 2K simulator right to predict Cooper Flagg? Well, yes and no. On the one hand, he was the best player in college sports, and with all the hype around him, it’s fair to think that he would have a great rookie season. But…sports don’t always work out that simply. Just look at the last few No.2 draft picks in the NBA draft, or other drafts, and recall how well many of them did in their rookie seasons.
Many of them had injuries that prevented them from getting the award. To that end, Flagg had a serious injury to end his college run. Thus, he’s recovering from that, while also trying to do his best against the NBA’s best.
We’re not saying he won’t do well or won’t help the Mavericks get better. But let’s temper expectations a bit, shall we?
