Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg‘s favorite basketball player of all time isn’t Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant or LeBron James. It’s Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird.
Flagg recently met Bird for the first time and the Duke product told Malika Andrews of ESPN that he was nervous.
“I was definitely nervous,” Flagg said. “I would say I haven’t been shell-shocked a lot in my life. … I was talking to him like about the difference in the league now between the league back then. But a lot of the messages that, you know, he displayed can be seen through his play, like never giving up, being that ultimate competitor, playing hard on every single possession. And those were kind of the biggest things that he said. As long as you have those couple things of competing and playing hard, that you’ll be all right.”
Bird is one of the greatest players in NBA history. He won three championships, three MVPs and two Finals MVPs with the Celtics.
Flagg and Bird filmed a commercial together and it was clearly a life-changing moment for Flagg, who was born and raised in Newport, Maine.
For the Mavericks this season, Flagg is putting up stellar numbers. He’s averaging 20.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 47.1% from the field, 29.1% from beyond the arc and 80.4% from the free-throw line.
Dallas will miss the playoffs again this season, but at least Flagg has lived up to the hype. The No. 1 overall pick from the 2025 NBA Draft leads all rookies in points per game and assists per game.
