The Dallas Mavericks were surprisingly able to land the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Despite only having a 1.8 percent chance of landing Cooper Flagg, the Mavericks won the pick and did select the Duke Blue Devils standout.
Flagg has been viewed as a generational talent over the last couple of years. Now, he’ll have a chance to prove that he can be that kind of player in a great situation.
He will be joining forces with Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, although there is no telling when Irving will return from the torn ACL that he suffered last season. In addition, he will have a chance to win and compete with a Mavericks team that has a lot of talent on the roster.
With Flagg officially being a part of the Dallas franchise, he was asked for his first thoughts about the city. He is clearly a fan of what he has seen so far.
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“It’s beautiful… I’m excited to explore the city and get settled in,” he said.
In addition to talking about the city, he also opened up about head coach Jason Kidd’s plan to experiment with Flagg playing some point guard as a rookie.
“Yeah I’m looking forward to it,” Flagg said. “Coach Scheyer trusted me a lot last year, and I handled it a lot…Set up a lot of different actions, I think it’s something I can do at a high level, so I’m excited to just experiment and do some new things.”
During the 2024-25 college basketball season with the Blue Devils, Flagg played in 37 games. He averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.4 steals per game, while shooting 48.1 percent from the floor and 38.5 percent from beyond the three-point arc.
At just 18 years old, the sky is truly the limit for Flagg with the Mavericks.
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Even though the Luka Doncic trade still stings for Dallas fans, Flagg is a great consolation prize. If he lives up to his full potential, the Mavericks have a new franchise player in town. He’s capable of becoming one of the top players in the NBA.
So far, it’s clear that Flagg enjoys his new situation. Dallas has welcomed him with open arms and he’s excited to get his professional career underway.
It will be interesting to see what the upcoming 2025-26 NBA season has in store for Flagg and the Mavericks.
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