The NBA rookie race heats up as former Duke teammates, Hornets’ Kon Knueppel and Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg, go head-to-head, each staking their claim as the season’s top newcomer.

How do NBA rookies rank this year? Kon Knueppel and Cooper Flagg lead so far, but Jeremiah Fears, Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey are coming on strong.

The NBA regular season schedule continues on Wednesday with nine games on the slate, which begins at 7 p.m. ET and has the last tip at 8:30 p.m.

Now, the Kings face the Houston Rockets, who have one of the most physical frontcourts in the NBA, including Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams. In fact, Adams is one of the most relentless and intelligent rebounders in the league today, averaging just shy of 10 rebounds in 22 minutes per game.

NBA season, we will take a deeper dive into some of the league’s biggest storylines in an attempt to determine whether trends are based more in fact or fiction moving forward. Last week: The NBA's new 'heaves' rule is working Fact or Fiction: Chris Paul is a top-five point guard in NBA history We have convened a Hall of Fame panel,

There is a 12-game NBA regular season slate on Friday, which begins at 7 p.m. ET and has the last tip at 9:30 p.m. ET. Josh Giddey, Tyrese