For years, NBA personnel and public prognosticators hyped the 2025 draft class. Led by Cooper Flagg, arguably the best American prospect in decades, this group appeared full of potential All-Stars and ready-made contributors.
That hype might be warranted, now that this crop of celebrated rookies has finally arrived on the professional stage. Despite an uneven start from Flagg, the 2025-26 rookie class includes defensive standouts, knockdown shooters and creators galore. As we get a sense of how their games are translating to the NBA now that they're almost a month into their careers, we can make an initial ranking of this group's performance.
Note that this is a ranking of the quality right now, rather than a long-term projection. Thus, there has been plenty of movement between the draft order and this list of the top-performing rookies. Four top-10 picks don't appear here -- the Utah Jazz's Ace Bailey (No. 5), Washington Wizards' Tre Johnson (No. 6), Brooklyn Nets' Egor Demin (No. 8) and Phoenix Suns' Khaman Maluach (No. 10) -- while just as many players picked outside the top 10 have outplayed their draft slots.
Note: Stats are updated as of the morning of Nov. 12th.
10. Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen, New Orleans Pelicans (tie)
This list starts with a little cheat: With 11 worthy rookies to fit into 10 spots, it didn't feel right cutting any of them. Thus, we begin these rankings with a pair of Pelicans.
To be fair, Fears and Queen have a great deal in common. They're both starting their careers in a miserable situation in New Orleans but have flashed glimpses of long-term potential amid larger overall inefficiency. Fears is already a smooth pick-and-roll operator and approaches every possession with bravado -- the "Zero Fears" nickname is apt, at the very least -- while Queen has already had games with eight and seven assists, hinting at his chance to develop into an offensive hub in New Orleans' frontcourt.
9. Collin Murray-Boyles, Toronto Raptors
Over the past decade, Toronto has become a home for long athletes with funky skill sets, and Murray-Boyles fits that archetype precisely. The No. 9 draft pick isn't much of a scorer and can barely use his right non-shooting hand at times -- Toronto's offensive rating collapses with Murray-Boyles on the floor -- but he brings tremendous energy and potential to the defensive end. His 2.8 deflections per game rank second among rookies, behind only VJ Edgecombe's 3.4.
Whether Murray-Boyles will fit best as a forward or a small-ball center remains to be seen, but he has a future as a rotation big, at the very least.
8. Sion James, Charlotte Hornets
Teammates with three lottery picks -- Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Maluach -- at Duke last season, the less-heralded, 22-year-old James has made an under-the-radar impact in Charlotte. James is shooting a remarkable 61% on 3-point attempts for the Hornets, and even if that pace surely won't continue, he has gained coach Charles Lee's trust early on, playing at least 25 minutes in six straight games.
Given his role and background, James might fall out of the top 10 by the next edition of these rookie rankings. But this placement is a reward for his impressive small-sample start, as James is one of a large number of guards making Charlotte an entertaining watch almost every night.
7. Will Richard, Golden State Warriors
Last season, Richard led the title-winning Florida Gators with 18 points in the national championship game. Now in the NBA, he has switched roles and is doing all the little things that have defined this era of Warriors basketball: He makes smart cuts, executes defensive rotations and sinks his 3s at a 44% clip. Because he rarely makes mistakes, Richard leads this rookie class in player efficiency rating (PER).
He's also still capable of a standout individual performance when granted the opportunity. According to Basketball Reference's game score metric, Richard's 30 points on 10-for-15 shooting in Sacramento Nov. 5, in a game Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler III and Draymond Green missed, was the best single-game performance by a rookie this season.
6. Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks
Flagg was the toughest rookie to rank, as his performance thus far needs to be placed in his situational context. Flagg is learning the point guard position on the fly as an 18-year-old, while playing for a team with minimal playmaking beyond him.
Flagg is no longer the runaway leader for Rookie of the Year after his first 11 games have been marred by rough efficiency numbers and an understandable difficulty adapting to a new position. Flagg's 37% effective field goal percentage on jumpers ranks 131st out of 135 players with at least 50 attempts, per GeniusIQ, and his 0.76 points per pick rank 68th out of 72 players with at least 100 screens as the ball handler.
Moreover, the Mavericks have been 25 points per 100 possessions worse with Flagg on the floor, per Cleaning the Glass. For context, the Denver Nuggets are 21 points per 100 possessions worse when Jonas Valanciunas spells Nikola Jokic at center
Yet Flagg would still be the pick for the best long-term prospect of any rookie; his slow start is not an indictment of his No. 1 selection in the draft. He turned in his best performance of the season -- while playing more of an off-ball role -- against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, and his surface stats are strong across the board, with averages of 15.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.
The only other rookies to average at least 10 points, five rebounds and three assists in the past decade are Victor Wembanyama, Paolo Banchero, Scottie Barnes, Josh Giddey, Cade Cunningham, LaMelo Ball, Luka Doncic, Ben Simmons and Lonzo Ball -- all of whom developed into stars of varying wattage.
But, given all the warts in Flagg's developing game, the middle of the top 10 is the highest he can realistically land right now.
5. Ryan Kalkbrenner, Charlotte Hornets
The No. 34 pick out of Creighton, Kalkbrenner doesn't have the star ceiling of Flagg or the next few players on this ranking. But the 7-footer is already doing two things at an elite level while filling Charlotte's hole at center.
First, he leads all qualified players this season -- not just rookies -- with 81% shooting from the field. Granted, Kalkbrenner takes almost all his shots at the basket, but his expected field goal percentage is 69%, according to GeniusIQ, meaning he has over performed by a robust 12% margin.
The second strength is arguably even more special, as Kalkbrenner ranks third behind Wembanyama and Alex Sarr this season with 2.3 blocks per game. He could join Wembanyama as the only qualified rookies in the 21st century to average at least two blocks and one steal. The all-time list is exclusive and littered with Hall of Famers.
4. Dylan Harper, San Antonio Spurs
Harper hasn't played since straining his calf in Phoenix on Nov. 2, or else he might rank higher. In six games off the bench before his injury, Harper showcased several exciting traits, most notably an aggressive, relentless focus on getting to the basket. According to Cleaning the Glass, 62% of Harper's shot attempts have come at the rim, which leads all guards. He has also kept his turnovers down, which is an unusual strength for a young guard.
Perhaps the most encouraging sign for San Antonio is how quickly Harper has meshed with Wembanyama, as the former top-2 picks serve as key building blocks in the Spurs' long-term foundation. In 78 minutes, the Wembanyama-Harper duo has a whopping plus-36 net rating, which is the third-best margin among 784 pairings with at least 75 minutes this season. (Only the Alex Caruso-Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso-Ajay Mitchell duos have a better net rating.)
3. Kon Knueppel, Charlotte Hornets
Knueppel is a player built for the 2020s, as he's both taking and making more 3s than any rookie in NBA history: 3.2 makes on 8.0 attempts (40% accuracy) per game. Those would be exciting numbers for any player, let alone a 20-year-old who also contributes 6.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
Relying that much on 3s, however, is a recipe for inconsistency. He recently scored just five points apiece in back-to-back games, then exploded for 24, 20 and 30 over his next three. But the highs are high enough, and the broader skill set well-rounded enough -- he finished an assist shy of his first triple-double on Monday -- that the Hornets should be thrilled they landed him at No. 4.
2. VJ Edgecombe, Philadelphia 76ers
Edgecombe has slid a bit following a strong start. After scoring 34 points in his debut -- the most for any NBA player since Wilt Chamberlain -- and 26 points in his third game, the rookie guard hasn't reached 20 since. Since those first three games, Edgecombe has averaged just 11.8 points per game on 35% shooting (34% from distance).
Edgecombe also has one clear area of improvement as he adjusts to NBA pace: He ranks 72nd out of 72 high-volume pick-and-roll ball handlers, with just 0.63 points per pick.
But the positives clearly outweigh the negatives. In addition to Edgecombe's scoring, his 5.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game stand out, and he's shooting 36% on a high volume of 3-pointers. His electric partnership with backcourt partner Tyrese Maxey gives Philadelphia a set-it-and-forget-it duo for the next half-decade. And most of all, no rookie has outperformed Edgecombe in the wow factor in the first few weeks.
"There's not a day that goes by," 76ers coach Nick Nurse said about Edgecombe in Chicago on Nov. 4, "that he doesn't do something athletically that wows us."
1. Cedric Coward, Memphis Grizzlies
I spoke with dozens of prospects at the 2025 NBA draft combine in May, and nobody impressed me more than Coward, who exuded a calm confidence and keen understanding of his own skill set -- in addition to excellent physical measurements. Coward didn't participate in any scrimmages at the combine because of a torn labrum that ended his final college season in November 2024, but that didn't prevent the Grizzlies from trading up to No. 11 to draft Coward as a replacement after trading Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic.
Those intangible advantages have quickly translated to the NBA court. Coward has blown away expectations early in his career, whether with his statistics -- 14.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game on 51% shooting (40% on 3s) -- or with his command and composure on both ends, even as a rookie with little high-level college experience thrust into a strange roster situation.
At minimum, Coward should be a high-value 3-and-D role player for a long time, but his ceiling could be much higher. In the Rookie of the Year race, Coward still ranks behind several peers who were drafted higher than him and will have more opportunities to accrue counting stats as this season continues. But right now, Coward has been the best rookie of the 2025-26 season.