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The 2025-26 NBA season is only a few weeks old, but you can already see why there was so much excitement for this rookie class, led by No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg, who hasn't even been that great yet. Flagg was not the only prize in the lottery, and Dylan Harper, VJ Edgecombe and Kon Knueppel have all made it clear why they were top-five picks. 

Further down the draft board, the likes of Tre Johnson, Jeremiah Fears, Collin Murray-Boyles, Derik Queen, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Will Richard have all had impressive moments.

It's far too early to start talking about where this class may rank all time, but it's not too early to discuss how the rookies have already impacted their teams and the league. Let's take a closer look at what the league's top first-year players have been up to thus far.

Cooper Flagg is only averaging 14.4 points and 2.8 assists on 39.4% shooting, including 29% from 3-point range. What's going on in Dallas?

Jack Maloney: Jason Kidd's decision to experiment with Flagg at point guard might pay off in the long run, but right now it's making life very difficult for the youngest player in the league. His 50 pick-and-roll possessions (including passes) have created 0.500 points per possession. Of the 55 players with at least 50 PNR possessions, Flagg ranks 55th in efficiency. (For reference, CJ McCollum, who ranks 54th, has created 0.754 points per possession.) 

Sam Quinn: The point guard debacle is the obvious explanation here and it's obviously a part of this. But even if Flagg were playing forward, this is a team devoid of shooting and playmaking outside of him. A team ranking 23rd in potential assists, 24th in 3-point attempt rate and 28th in effective field goal percentage is not one poorly positioned player away from success. As of this writing, Max Christie is the only player on this team shooting above league-average from 3-point range. Heck, of the 11 players who have attempted a single 3-pointer, eight are shooting below 30% on the season. The Mavericks don't have a point guard problem; they have an offense problem that will afflict Flagg no matter what position he plays.

James Herbert: The Mavericks' plan for Flagg was misguided at best, deeply arrogant at worst. It's one thing to challenge a top-tier prospect to play out of position and stretch his game; it's another to do so without putting the surrounding pieces in place to support him. As talented as he is, it's unfair to ask Flagg to create efficient offense without sufficient shooting or secondary playmaking on the floor. The whole operation is clunky and the Pacers are the only team in the NBA that has scored less efficiently in the halfcourt, per Cleaning The Glass. Ugly, ugly stuff.

We all picked Flagg to win Rookie of the Year. Are you sticking with that prediction?

Maloney: Yes. The first few weeks have been a bit shaky for Flagg, but awards aren't decided in early November. Notably, he's 12 of 41 on open or wide-open shots -- 2s and 3s combined -- which I do not expect to continue. If he's still shooting below 30% on those types of looks by Christmas, then I'll start to be concerned. 

Quinn: No. Rookie of the Year is a counting stats award. Flagg was never ideally suited to post counting stats, but if he'd brought his mature, all-around game to a winner while at least playing efficient offense, that would have been enough to overcome the award's history. Well, he isn't. The Mavericks are bad and even if they get better they aren't really able with this current roster to put him in a position to succeed. So we default to the counting stat champion, who, by a mile, has been VJ Edgecombe. That Edgecombe is playing for a winning team is just the cherry on top.

Herbert: I'm pivoting to Edgecombe. There's plenty of time for Flagg to flip the script, but I love everything Edgecombe has been doing and I think he's set up to sustain his early season impact. He might not be among the league leaders in minutes once Jared McCain is in the swing of things and Paul George is in the lineup, but that's OK. Edgecombe has established himself as not only an enormous part of Philadelphia's future, but a legitimate two-way weapon out of the box. The Sixers' new style of play fits him perfectly and, if they can get their act together on defense, he'll be unleashed even more in transition.

What have you been most impressed with from VJ Edgecombe's brilliant start?

Maloney: The explosiveness going to the basket. I was aware of his athleticism coming into the league, but I can't sit here and pretend like I was watching a bunch of Baylor games last year. So to see him enter the league and immediately start attacking the rim with almost reckless abandon has been incredible. I'm not a huge fan of the almost-highlight stuff, but his missed dunk against the Nets the other day was actually crazy. His ability to accelerate from a complete standstill makes it almost impossible to stay in front of him. 

Quinn: The playmaking. The two primary comparisons Edgecombe drew entering the draft were Victor Oladipo and Dwyane Wade. We knew he'd score and we knew he'd defend. That's Oladipo. The superstar gap, the reason he was never really considered for the No. 1 pick, was the assumption that he wouldn't actually be able to run an offense, but rather would need to function in someone else's. And granted, this is very much Tyrese Maxey's offense. But Edgecombe is leading all rookies in assists comfortably, averaging more assists than even a rookie Wade did. He's already recognizing how much better his teammates are than they were at the college level, and when he collapses defenses into the paint, he's showing an eagerness to take advantage by spraying the ball out to open shooters. If this is a growth area for him, that's where the Wade comparisons start to grow more realistic. Even if he's never a traditional point guard, true offensive stardom comes when a creator knows how to leverage the things they do best into points for their whole team, not just themselves. The early returns on this front for Edgecombe have been encouraging.

Herbert: It's a tie between his shooting and the on-ball stuff. Generally speaking, Edgecombe has been a far better offensive player than advertised. His jumper looks better than it did at Baylor -- just compare the arc then and now -- and, more than the 39% mark on 3s, it's the total confidence in the shot that impresses me. From preseason onward, regardless of how defenses were treating him, you could tell that he thought he was a good shooter based on the type of 3s that he was taking without hesitation. And this aspect of Edgecombe's game has only made him more dangerous as a creator, where he has proven to be incredibly advanced for a 20-year-old who didn't get a ton of reps initiating offense in college. He has overwhelming speed, but he rarely presses the turbo button at the wrong time. In terms of what it means for his star potential, Edgecombe's decision-making attacking off the catch and in pick-and-roll is even more exciting than his high-flying dunks.

Dylan Harper just picked up a calf injury and will be out multiple weeks. How big of a blow is that for the Spurs?

Maloney: Definitely a real blow, especially with De'Aaron Fox still sidelined. He was awesome during their 5-0 start and, if you include the game where he got injured early, they're 0-2 without him. They have a brutal week coming up as well, with five games in eight days, including matchups with the Rockets, Bulls and Warriors (twice). With just two defeats, they've dropped from first place in the West to fifth, which shows just how much each game is going to matter in this crowded conference. No one expected the Spurs to actually contend this season, but Harper's injury -- which they'll have to be careful with -- could be the difference between a top-six seed and a Play-In spot. 

Quinn: It hurts, but more in the long run than the short run. Stephon Castle has improved enough as a sophomore that San Antonio should feel relatively comfortable with him as their primary guard until Fox comes back. The real issue here will be figuring out how the three of them function together. Which combinations make the most sense? Can the three of them share the court without impacting San Antonio's spacing and defense negatively? Harper came into the NBA ready to go. A few weeks won't hurt his personal development too much. Really, these guards need reps playing together so the Spurs can figure out which version of their backcourt is sticking around for the long haul.

Herbert: This is a bummer for me, personally, because I want to watch Harper play as much as possible. Even in the game in which he got hurt -- a rough loss in Phoenix -- he made several plays in his 11 minutes that made me chuckle to myself. For the Spurs, it's unfortunate specifically because he was helping their offense stay steady in the non-Wemby minutes. They're probably not freaking out about it, though, because before long they'll have another lefty playmaker in the lineup. If there's a silver lining here, it's that Harper's absence should make it simpler to integrate Fox. San Antonio now unequivocally needs Fox to take more ownership of the offense than he did when he arrived last season.

Fill in the blank: [This rookie] has not been getting enough attention 

Maloney: The Hornets are likely going to be a lottery team again, but there's more hope for the future in Charlotte than there has been in many years thanks to this rookie class they've brought in. No. 4 pick Kon Knueppel has rightfully gotten the headlines for his strong start, but second-round picks Sion James and Ryan Kalkbrenner have been impressive as well. I'm not sure people are aware of how absurdly efficient James and Kalkbrenner have been so far. James is 14 of 20 from 3-point range to start his career and boasts 62.2/70/90.9 shooting splits, while Kalkbrenner hasn't missed more than two shots in any game and is at 82.9% from the field. The big man is also leading all rookies in rebounds (7.1) and blocks (2.4) per game. The Hornets may have added three rotation players in one draft.

Quinn: I'm going to pivot off of the question slightly. Derik Queen has been getting a ton of attention… just not for the right reasons. The unprotected first-round pick New Orleans gave up and the protected Pacers pick that got them No. 23, which also went out in the deal are gone. That's a sunk cost. Even if the Pelicans traded away multiple high lottery picks, we do actually have to evaluate Queen as a player, and once Willie Green started using him (in concert with Zion Williamson's injury), he's turned out to be pretty solid. He's already a more comfortable driver and offensive hub than most rookie big men, and while he certainly has defensive deficiencies, he's at least active. He ranks third among rookies in total steals, fourth in blocks and fifth in deflections despite that inconsistent role. The series of transactions that ultimately got Queen to New Orleans are almost certainly going to be a net negative for the Pelicans. There's nothing Queen can do about that. But independent of circumstances, he thus far looks as though he'll outperform a standard No. 13 overall pick. If nothing else, he's gonna be a valuable secondary ball-handler who will be too skilled for many bigger defenders and too big for most wings.

Herbert: Collin Murray-Boyles. The Raptors started the season terribly on defense, but that wasn't his fault and they've been better lately. On that end, his quick hands and feet have stood out from Day 1 and, most impressively, his physicality has translated to this level. Murray-Boyles is already a disruptive, dogged defender, off-ball and on-ball, on the perimeter and on the inside. The offense is a work in progress and he'd be a smoother fit with more shooting around him, but he's shown flashes there. He knocked down 3s when the Rockets and Spurs dared him to shoot, and in moments he was unafraid to go right at Evan Mobley and Jaren Jackson Jr., two of the league's best defenders. Nice Teletubby costume, too.