MACAU — The Dallas Mavericks made a terrible decision by trading Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2024-25 season, but the franchise got lucky by winning the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery.
Dallas selected Cooper Flagg with the first overall pick in the 2025 draft, and the Duke product already looks like a future Hall of Famer.
During an interview with The Athletic, Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont strongly praised Flagg, Dallas’ franchise player in the post-Dončić era.
“He is an amazing, amazing basketball player and a great person,” Dumont said.
The Mavericks won only 26 games last season, but they should be better this season since Kyrie Irving will play.
Irving missed all of last season recovering from the torn left ACL he suffered during the 2024-25 season against the Sacramento Kings in March.
“I’m excited to see how the season goes,” Dumont said. “I am naturally a patient person. I believe in building things over time. That’s how you make them resilient, and that’s how you make them durable. I’m very excited for the future of this team. You have Cooper. You have Kyrie. We have a bunch of young players who are aggressive and motivated. They want to win.
“I’m patient. I’m a patient person. I think about things in the long term. And that to me is really important. If you look at my history and how I do things, I invest, I build, I try to do things in a way that creates durability and long-term success.”
Flagg Had Terrific Rookie Season
Flagg had a great rookie season for the Mavericks, who are currently in Macau, China. The swingman played in 70 games and averaged 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 46.8% from the field, 29.5% from beyond the arc and 82.7% from the free-throw line.
Flagg recorded 13 double-doubles and won the 2025-26 Rookie of the Year award. His best game was against the Orlando Magic on April 3. The talented forward put up 51 points in 33 minutes, becoming the first teenager and the youngest player in NBA history to score at least 50 points in a game.
While Flagg’s rookie season was incredible, he’s ready to move on from Year 1 and be better in Year 2.
“I think rookie season is done, so now I’m just improving for the rest of my career. Just trying to get better every single day, and that’s what this offseason was about for me,” Flagg said at the start of October. “Taking care of my body, resting, getting my mind right. But then also just being in the gym, working on individual things, skill things, stuff like that, that are obviously going to allow me to [be] better for the rest of my career, so I’m really, really proud of myself and how the offseason went.”
Flagg Excited To Play With Kyrie
Flagg said at Mavericks media day that he’s excited to play with Irving, one of the best guards in NBA history.
Irving has made nine All-Star teams and three All-NBA teams. He has career averages of 23.7 points and 5.6 assists per game in the regular season and 23.0 points and 4.9 assists per game in the playoffs.
“Ky’s one of those guys, playing alongside him, I feel like he just makes it easy to play with him,” Flagg said. “Obviously, he’s one of the greats of our game, and he’s an incredible talent. But I think that combined with his personality makes it really easy to fit next to and play with. And I think the time that we’ve been able to spend in the summer on the court together has been really good for both of us to kind of build that connection. So I’m really excited. I think it’s gonna be really fun to be able to share the court. Obviously, having somebody like that down the court with you at all times is gonna be amazing.”
The Mavericks begin this season on the road against the Houston Rockets on October 21.
Dallas and Houston are playing two games against each other in China.
