DALLAS (AP) — Cooper Flagg was in the midst of an unprecedented run for an NBA teenager when the Dallas Mavericks firmly declared their rookie No. 1 pick the future face of the franchise.
That day was coming no matter what. It arrived with Dallas trading Anthony Davis, the 10-time All-Star who joined the Mavericks in a deal that cost them generational superstar Luka Doncic and sent their fans into a funk from which they’re still recovering.
“We have an unbelievable player in Cooper Flagg,” co-interim general manager Michael Finley, a former Mavericks player, said Thursday night during the announcement of a three-team trade involving nine players and five draft picks that are all going to Dallas.
“When you have that type of draft capital, it gives yourself the ability to go out and put the proper pieces around him to make our team, like I keep stressing, a championship contender.”
The Mavericks got Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson and Marvin Bagley III along with two first-round picks and three second-rounders from Washington for Davis, Jaden Hardy, D’Angelo Russell and Dante Exum. Malaki Branham also was part of the deal for Dallas, which then traded him to Charlotte for Tyus Jones.
Flagg entered Thursday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs as the first teenager with three consecutive 30-point games, starting with the 19-year-old’s 49-point outing against Charlotte that is a league record for the under-20 group. Flagg followed that with 34 points against Houston and 36 against Boston.
The Mavericks lost all three games on Flagg’s run to put their losing streak at five games, a season worst, which helps explain why the Mavericks moved on from the oft-injured Davis, currently sidelined by a hand injury, and chose another retooling of the roster over the chance to see Davis, Flagg and star guard Kyrie Irving on the court together.
“I think, as a fan, you probably would want to see AD, Kyrie, and Cooper on the court,” said Finley, who shares the interim GM title with Matt Riccardi. “But we had an opportunity to do something to give us the ultimate flexibility in the future. We just felt that this was an opportunity to take advantage of that situation.”
When the Mavericks converted a 1.8% chance in the draft lottery for the right to select Flagg last summer, there was hope that the fog of losing Doncic would clear.
Instead, Davis’ injury woes returned amid a slow start by the team this season, as did the “Fire Nico” chants that filled American Airlines Center in the final two months of 2024-25 after the Doncic trade engineered by then-general manager Nico Harrison.
The Mavericks fired Harrison in November in part as a way to repair the relationship with the fans, and to acknowledge that the trade was a setback for the franchise.
Now they’ve moved on from their centerpiece in that deal, but Irving is the biggest remaining piece from the team that he and Doncic led to the NBA Finals less than two years ago. It’s beginning to look as if Irving won’t play at all this season after the nine-time All-Star tore the ACL in his left knee last March.
Finley indicated the Mavs still have a vision of Flagg and Irving — both one-and-done No. 1 overall picks from Duke — sharing the court at some point.
“We’ve both spoken to Kyrie at different points,” Finley said, referring to Riccardi. “Kyrie has the ultimate respect for Cooper. He loves the kid’s work ethic. He loves the kid’s love for the game. And I think Kyrie’s embracing the role as a mentor to Cooper. So it’s going to be amazing to have a chance to see those guys on the court and playing together.”
The fate of Flagg’s rookie year is all but set — the Mavericks as also-rans in what appears to be a second consecutive season without a trip to the playoffs since the five-game loss to Boston in the 2024 NBA Finals.
Coach Jason Kidd, the point guard for the franchise’s only championship team in 2011, believes Flagg has the makings of a franchise leader, and the perseverance to work toward that first postseason chance.
“The bigger the stage, the bigger the light, the better game he has,” Kidd said. “He wants to win. The 49 (points), the 36, they all have L’s behind it. He wants the change that. He wants to win. I think the great ones learn how to change those L’s into W’s, and he’s going to be one of those.”
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