How Cooper Flagg Can Help The Dallas Mavericks

Duke’s Cooper Flagg (2) dunks the ball as Houston’s Terrance Arceneaux (23), Mylik Wilson (8) and ... More Milos Uzan (7) watch during the first half in the national semifinals at the Final Four of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) Cooper Flagg was already touted as a potential NBA superstar before he even enrolled at Duke University last year. Flagg, who grew up in Maine, dominated high school and grassroots basketball competition so much that he decided to graduate early and get to college and the NBA as soon as possible. But it wasn’t until last summer during scrimmages against the U.S. Olympics team that Flagg showed he could hold his own against the best players in the world, many of whom praised Flagg. Starting next season, those players will get a closer glimpse of Flagg, who is almost certainly going to be playing for the Dallas Mavericks. On Monday night, the Mavericks surprisingly won the NBA draft lottery and secured the No. 1 pick, which they will assuredly use to select Flagg, a versatile 6-foot-9 forward who should step in the starting lineup and be the Rookie of the Year favorite. The draft takes place on June 25 and 26 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. For the Mavericks, winning the lottery is particularly welcome considering the criticism the franchise has received since February when Dallas traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers as part of a three-team deal. Yes, the Mavericks received All-Star Anthony Davis, one of the best big men in the NBA. But they also sent away Doncic, who is nearly six years younger than Davis and in the prime of his career. Doncic, who turned 26 in February, has made the All-NBA first team for five consecutive seasons and could do so again when the teams are announced this month. Now, with Flagg, the Mavericks have a two-way player who can score, pass, rebound and defend at a high level and play multiple positions. Flagg, who doesn’t turn 19 until December, also adds some youth to a team that features Davis, who is 32 years old; point guard Kyrie Irving, who is 33; and shooting guard Klay Thompson, who is 35. Irving suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury in March and isn’t expected to return until next January, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. One year after making the NBA Finals, the Mavericks finished this season with a 39-43 record and lost to the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA Play-In tournament. They had a 1.8% chance of winning the lottery, the fourth-lowest odds of any lottery winner, according to ESPN. The 1993 Orlando Magic (1.52%), the 2014 Cleveland Cavaliers (1.7%) and the 2008 Chicago Bulls (1.7%) were the only teams with lower odds. Flagg is coming off one of the best freshmen seasons in college history. He led Duke with 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game and shot 48.1% from the floor, 38.5% on 3-pointers and 84% on free throws. Flagg’s season ended in disappointing fashion, as the Blue Devils lost 70-67 to Houston in the Final Four, blowing a 9-point lead with just over two minutes remaining to snap the team’s 15-game winning streak. Still, Duke finished with a 39.29 adjusted efficiency margin, according to analyst Ken Pomeroy, which was the highest in the nation and the second-best all-time since Pomeroy began publishing the team data in the 1996-97 season. And Flagg’s 2.734 KenPom rating was the second-highest since KenPom began publishing the data in the 2010-11 season, only behind Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky, who had a 2.794 rating as a senior in the 2014-15 season. Flagg won the Associated Press, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, John Wooden and Naismith national player of the year awards. The only other freshmen to win those awards were former Texas forward Kevin Durant in 2007, Davis (who played at Kentucky) in 2012 and former Duke forward Zion Williamson in 2019. Durant is now one of the all-time greats and eighth in NBA history with more than 30,000 career points, while Davis is just a notch or two below but still a 10-time All-Star and future Hall of Famer. Williamson, meanwhile, has shown flashes of stardom, winning rookie of the year and averaging 24.7 points per game and shooting 58.9% from the field, but he’s been hampered by injuries and weight issues that have limited him to 214 games in six seasons. Williamson, the top pick in the 2019 draft, was in Chicago Monday night representing the New Orleans Pelicans at the draft lottery at the McCormick Place convention center. The Pelicans had a 12.5% chance of winning the lottery, the fourth-best odds, only behind the Utah Jazz, Charlotte Hornets and Washington Wizards, each of whom had a 14% chance. But it was the Mavericks who ended up with the chance to select Flagg. It remains to be seen how Flagg will perform in the NBA, but so far he has excelled at every level even though he’s often been the youngest player on the court. Last summer, Flagg became the first college player since 2013 invited to play for the U.S. Select team, which practiced against the Olympics team. The other Select team members all played in the NBA. Still, Durant, Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker and others praised Flagg’s talent and hustle. Flagg’s performance against the Olympics team didn’t surprise Sharman White, who coached Flagg in multiple high-level events, including the FIBA U17 World Cup in Spain in 2022. “I don’t know where he stacks up with those guys, but I do think he made a good mark for himself with the way he approached it, which is Cooper-like,” White told me last summer. “He went out there and competed. He didn’t take it for granted. He didn’t just say, ‘I’m just glad to be out here.’ He took it as an opportunity. If you know him, that’s what he does.” Since 2011, Duke has had 20 players selected in the first round of the NBA draft after their freshman seasons, including three (Irving in 2011, Williamson in 2019 and Paolo Banchero in 2023) who were overall No. 1 picks. Now, Flagg will almost certainly be teammates with Irving, joining a Mavericks team that has faced constant criticism for more than three months since trading Doncic but suddenly finds itself dreaming of a playoff run next season and for years to come. Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timcasey/2025/05/12/how-cooper-flagg-can-help-the-dallas-mavericks/