The Dallas Mavericks were eliminated from postseason contention after losing 137-131 in overtime against the Golden State Warriors on Monday night. However, amid a 23-49 record, the Mavs have continued to use the remainder of the schedule to develop players, especially Cooper Flagg.
Through 60 games, Flagg is averaging 20.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in 33.8 minutes per night as a 19-year-old. After scoring 32 points against the Warriors, he now has eight career 30-point games, more than any other teenager in NBA history except LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. He did it while shooting 12-of-19 from the floor and 2-of-4 from beyond the arc, while making all six of his free throw attempts and finding his teammates for nine assists.
“He’s slowing the game down. He’s reading the defense really well,” Max Christie said of Flagg. “When he gets into his backdowns and his moves, he’s taking his time more — he’s not rushed. He’s still making the right play. That’s the first sign of growth.”
Defenses have thrown everything at Flagg, but he embraces the challenge. With Kyrie Irving out for the season as he recovers from ACL surgery, Flagg is frequently drawing the opposing team’s top on-ball defender, while also being a focal point of the team’s help defense and scheme. Whether he’s being blitzed or the defense switches and loads up in the gaps with early help, he’s learning how to navigate it.
“He’s playing really well. He’s a big, physical player who competes hard,” Warriors guard De’Anthony Melton said. “When he attacks the rim, he’s getting there. He’s got a solid mid‑range game and can score at all three levels. I really respect his competitive nature and overall skill set.”
Monday night’s game against the Warriors provided strong insight into how Flagg processes reads as a decision-maker, even in high-pressure situations. Dallas was down by three with 1:16 left, he drove baseline and read the low defender rotating to help in the paint. Instead of forcing it, he made the spray-out pass to Naji Marshall wide open in the corner with a chance to win it in regulation, but the shot was off.
“I think I could have probably had an okay look,” Flagg said. “But hindsight — I looked to my left and saw Naji with nobody within 10 feet of him.”
After Marshall’s shot went offline, the Warriors took over in overtime, and the Mavericks never got a possession to tie or take the lead after that.
Regardless of how overtime played out, Flagg read the defense and trusted his teammate. It’s a mindset the team as a whole has embraced in the early days of a rebuild.
“It’s not predetermined,” Flagg said. “It’s just trying to read the game at a high level as it’s happening. If I feel two guys collapse or come to the ball, I’m just trying to make the right, simple play and find my teammates in the right spots.”
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd has repeatedly seen Flagg make the right decision throughout the season, but commended his decision-making against Golden State.
“He was rolling,” Kidd said. “We got the ball to him. I thought the execution carried over from that Clippers game—being able to make plays for others as much as Cooper was scoring. I thought he used his teammates well…”
Flagg returns to the same phrase when asked where the instinct comes from.
“It’s just been instilled in me since I was young,” he said. “For me, I like making the right play, the simple play.”
It shows in transition, in how time passes out of pick-and-roll against an early low man, and in the way he uses pace to manufacture angles by snaking into the gap rather than just blowing past defenders, to name a few. He’s becoming increasingly craftier as his comfort level rises. Given he’s the youngest player in the NBA this season, one can only imagine what he’ll ultimately become.
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