Cooper Flagg played his first game in the City of Angels on Friday night.
The exciting young rookie traveled with the Mavericks to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers as Amazon Prime’s marquee Black Friday matchup. It’s always cool to see a prospect like Flagg make their debut against the purple and gold given the historic nature of the Lakers’ franchise. But this is, of course, a bit more meaningful given Flagg will forever be tied to one of his superstar opponents—Luka Dončić.
Dončić was shockingly traded to the Lakers by the Mavericks in January in one of the most stunning trades in the history of sports. The decision to trade Dončić in the middle of his prime by since-fired GM Nico Harrison gifted Los Angeles a young new star to join LeBron James and usher the franchise into a new future. It also paved the way for the Mavericks to tumble in the standings, win the NBA draft lottery despite incredibly long odds, and select Flagg with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft.
Thus, Flagg playing Dončić will always be notable. The past, present, and future of the Mavericks’ franchise facing off. No matter where both teams are in the standings it feels like this matchup will have a little extra juice.
Which is good because the Lakers are contenders and the Mavericks … are not. Los Angeles occupies the No. 2 spot in the West entering the weekend. Dallas is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, ranking 14th in the conference with a 5-15 record. Obviously the team has struggled but so, too, has Flagg. Billed as one of the best prospects to ever come out of college, the young forward entered the game averaging 15.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per contest while shooting 45.1% from the floor and a rough 26.1% from three. Context makes the stats a little less painful; Flagg is being asked to play out of position given the Mavericks’ roster construction and Kyrie Irving’s extended absence. The Duke product has also battled a shoulder injury to begin his NBA career and had to miss a game in the early going.
Nevertheless, it hasn’t been the start Flagg or the Mavs were hoping for. But Friday was an opportunity for the rookie to make a statement in a head-to-head matchup against The King and Laker Luka. Did he take advantage?
How Cooper Flagg played vs. Lakers
Flagg put forth a respectable effort against Los Angeles on Friday night.
Flagg started off the game pretty quiet. Anthony Davis’s return to the lineup means plenty of defensive attention is diverted away from Flagg, but it also means the offense will run largely through AD when he’s out there. So there wasn’t much impact from the rookie from Duke offensively in the first frame. He hit a smooth pull-up jumper at one point but otherwise was content to make the right pass, keep the ball moving, and help create space for his teammates to work.
That changed a bit in the second quarter. Flagg got more aggressive with the rock, hitting a few more pull-ups and was clearly starting to feel it. Which gave him enough confidence to try to take Deandre Ayton one-on-one, and that did not work out as well; the 7-footer sent the shot flying out of bounds.
Defensively Jason Kidd wasn’t interested in putting Flagg to the test. Flagg started the game guarding Rui Hachimura rather than James or Dončić. He switched onto the Lakers’ superstars at times but wasn’t put on an island too often. In the first half Dončić successfully took him off the dribble but Flagg hung in there as well as could be expected given Dončić’s status as arguably the hardest assignment in the NBA.
In the fourth quarter, the Mavericks really started leaning into Flagg’s creation. He usually had the ball to start plays and broke the defense down off the dribble a few times. It resulted in a few really tough makes against a Lakers defense fairly keyed in on him. As is usually the case, the benefits were cascading. Flagg’s focus on impacting the game opened up the floor for his teammates and the Mavericks got into a groove offensively both featuring Flagg and otherwise to start the quarter. But things fell off in the second half thanks to the fatigue factor for the rookie.
It turns out, it’s tiring to be The Guy all the time for a professional basketball team. Flagg was, well, flagging after being featured so prominently earlier in the game. He was still giving maximum effort out there but there’s only so much to be done with tired legs. He front-rimmed an open shot in the paint over Austin Reaves that really spelled out how exhausted he was. Kidd subbed him out shortly thereafter even though it was a three-point game going down the stretch and by the time he returned the Lakers built enough of a lead to pull out the 129–119 win without too much drama.
The contest was a good example of the obstacles Flagg is learning to overcome in his first NBA season. Aggressiveness doesn’t come naturally to the forward; he’s a team-oriented player who is far more interested in making the right play for the Mavs than making the right play for himself. But given the lack of perimeter creation around him, what’s best for Flagg is also best for the Mavericks most of the time. Additionally, Flagg has the athleticism and instincts to be a good help defender as well as hold up individually but hasn’t had enough time in the weight room yet to really dominate in that regard.
All in, Flagg finished with a near triple-double of 13 points, 11 assists, and seven rebounds in 36 minutes. On a night where his teammates were making shots his willingness to find the open man paid big dividends. His high energy means he’ll always be fighting for boards. And while Flagg didn’t really find a groove as a scorer he showed off all the ways he can be threatening with multiple contested makes from various areas of the court.
Flagg is clearly a work in progress. He’s also, clearly, already capable of contributing to winning. Dallas didn’t pull it out tonight but Flagg’s box score-stuffing isn’t going away. It was a fun glimpse of what he could be, even if Dončić’s greatness was too overwhelming to win the day.
