Cooper Flagg landed at No. 12 on FanSided's 25-under-25 NBA Player Rankings this season, ranking the best young players in the NBA. Check out the rest of the list here.
The Dallas Mavericks felt the divine touch of fate when a bunch of random ping-pong balls delivered the No. 1 overall pick to Central Texas — and with it, the right to select Duke freshman Cooper Flagg in the 2025 NBA Draft. That came just months after Nico Harrison's utterly baffling decision to trade Luka Dončić, a generational talent and perennial MVP candidate, to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The lottery definitely isn't rigged, but man, it has never felt more rigged. This was a cold envelope-level conspiracy. But sometimes, life just has a funny way of working out like this. The Mavs front office absolutely did not deserve the saving grace of Flagg, who will shield them against criticism for the Dončić trade for years to come. The Mavericks fanbase, however, absolutely deserves this. The Dončić trade was spirit-breaking for so many in Dallas. A true betrayal of a passionate fanbase with so much to look forward to. Flagg instills that sense of hope again.
It's difficult to overstate just how special Flagg is. He arrived at Duke as a 17-year-old — and didn't become a legal adult until December, midway through his freshman campaign. And that freshman campaign was historically great. Flagg joined an exclusive club of first-year Wooden Award winners, alongside Kevin Durant and Zion Williamson. If not for Wemby a couple years ago, we'd be touting Flagg as the greatest prospect in a generation.
Flagg was dominant in high school and a clear No. 1 pick before he ever set foot on the court at Cameron Indoor Stadium. And yet, his freshman season was full of surprises. The arc of improvement from Flagg is such a short time span was nothing short of miraculous. He grew so much in a few months at Duke, laying countless concerns to rest and emerging as one of the most fully-formed, NBA-ready teenagers in recent memory.
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Cooper Flagg should deliver instant results to a Mavericks team in need
It's difficult to project rookie production with any confidence or certainty. There is such a vast difference in competition in college (or overseas) and in the NBA. But Flagg feels like a relative certainty. Every indicator points in the right direction. We just don't see players dominate at the level he did in college, especially not at such a young age. It's one thing for five-year college vets like Zach Edey and Johni Broome to steamroll the competition. But for Flagg to elevate so far above the competition, when he was almost exclusively the youngest player on the floor, hints at special things to come.
Dallas is bringing Flagg into a unique situation. It's not often that the No. 1 overall pick joins what is ostensibly a contender. The Mavs have a few questions to answer after the Dončić trade, but Anthony Davis remains a top-15ish player. Kyrie Irving should be back by midseason. Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall — these are all vets dead-set on competing for a championship.
Jason Kidd is a deeply flawed head coach, and it's fair to wonder if he will maximize the Flagg's development — something he struggled with once upon a time with a young Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee. We've already seen Flagg deployed as a point guard. The Mavs are putting a lot of faith in the 18-year-old out of the gate, primarily because this roster is not built to function if Flagg is not a bonafide perimeter star. The sort of perimeter star the Mavs lost in the Dončić trade.
Flagg is not Dončić, of course. He's a 6-foot-9 wing, not a 6-foot-7 point guard. Whereas Dončić was effortlessly skilled on offense, Flagg is a far more robust defender. A future DPOY candidate who blows up passing lanes, smothers the weak side for blocks and switches 1-through-5, often without issue. Flagg is not a natural-born facilitator like Dončić. He's not quite so fluid as a pull-up shooter. But he should give the Mavs offense an immediate jolt.
When Flagg arrived at Duke, he was billed as more of a connector and play-finisher who still needed to come into his own as an alpha. Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devils threw him into the fire head-first, forcing Flagg to grow on the fly and quickly pick up new tricks. It worked. By the end of his Duke tenure, Flagg was creating his own looks at all three levels, navigating tight spaces as a ball-handler and showcasing genuine on-ball, 1A playmaking chops. Dallas will hope to continue that meteoric ascent in the NBA.
Are the Mavs going to win a championship this season? Probably not. Flagg deserves all the standard patience and grace a rookie ought to receive, even as we place these sky-high expectations upon him. But it's fair to think that Flagg will acclimate quickly and keep the Mavs feisty, even in the West. He's a special player and a thrilling new face of the franchise in Dallas.