DALLAS — Three weeks ago, before the Dallas Mavericks faced the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jason Kidd was asked about the comparisons his rookie year has drawn to one of the greatest players in NBA history. Even though LeBron James has set an incredible standard, Kidd sees parallels with Cooper Flagg.
“There are a lot of comparisons, number-wise,” Kidd said on March 15. “I understand the attention. LeBron has done it at a high level for a long time. Cooper probably has the chance to do the same as we go forward. LeBron was one of those special people who, from day one with all the attention, delivered on and off the floor. He didn’t win a championship his first year, though. He had to go through the process. They’re very similar in that they’re extremely talented.”
On Easter Sunday at American Airlines Center, that comparison stops being abstract. Kidd was asked again about the comparisons in front of the Dallas media. Kidd emphasized the ability to handle lofty expectations from Day 1, along with drawing the top on-ball defender and facing aggressive defensive schemes that come with being viewed as a star.
“I think when I was saying that, similarities just with all the excitement or the hype of being able to play the game as a teenager, and in a man’s game, and understanding the expectations on a nightly basis,” Kidd said. “Taking on the number one defender, or number two defender, or being double-teamed. And the similarities are being able to score the ball, being able to play the game at a high level, and having fun doing it.”
Flagg and James will share a floor at 6:30 p.m. CDT, when the Mavericks (24-53) host the Los Angeles Lakers (50-27) in one of the more unexpectedly compelling matchups of the season’s final stretch.
A Rookie Season That Demands the Comparison
Flagg is averaging 20.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game this season — numbers that have placed him comfortably inside the Rookie of the Year conversation since November. He entered Sunday’s game coming off a 51-point performance, the kind of individual statement that makes the LeBron parallels feel less like media noise and more like genuine basketball observation.
The circumstances around him have been difficult. Dallas is a lottery team. Kyrie Irving is done for the season as he continues to recover from left knee surgery. Dereck Lively II was shut down after seven games. Anthony Davis was traded to the Washington Wizards. The Mavericks have lost three consecutive games entering tonight. None of that has meaningfully slowed Flagg down.
Kidd’s framing from Cleveland is the right one: LeBron didn’t win in year one either. He went through the process.
The Los Angeles Lakers Arrive Shorthanded
What makes tonight more than a late-season formality is what happened to Los Angeles last week.
During Thursday’s 139-96 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Luka Dončić suffered a Grade 2 left hamstring strain and was ruled out for the remainder of the regular season. Austin Reaves, who initially downplayed discomfort after the game, was diagnosed Friday with a left oblique muscle strain and will miss the rest of the regular season as well. Marcus Smart, already sidelined with a right ankle contusion for seven consecutive games, remains out.
Jarred Vanderbilt was upgraded from questionable to available with right calf soreness.
That means LeBron James — 41 years old, still averaging 20.6 points per game this season — is the Lakers’ primary offensive option tonight. The two stars, Dončić and Reaves, combined for more than 55 points per game this season. Replacing that production, as the organization has acknowledged, isn’t something that happens overnight.
“Next man up” is the phrase. Tonight is the first real test of what that means.
What Jason Kidd Was Really Saying
Kidd’s comparison wasn’t hype. It was grounded in process — in the idea that a player who arrives with enormous talent and enormous attention has to earn everything that comes next through sustained performance, not narrative.
LeBron entered the league in 2003 with the weight of Chosen One expectations and spent his first several seasons building toward his ceiling without postseason success. He had to learn how to carry a franchise, how to manage attention at scale, how to be great when the team around him wasn’t. The process, as Kidd put it, was part of the story. Kidd sees a lot that Flagg can learn.
“You talk about winning, you talk about longevity, you talk about always improving the game, their game, each year, and then just understanding, having fun,” Kidd said. “LeBron has turned his company into a billion-dollar industry. He’s done extremely well, not just on the court, but off the court. So just understanding that it’s not easy to be a GOAT or to be considered one of the best to do it. But the biggest thing is LeBron’s put in time, worked extremely hard at his craft, and so it’s paid off, and he’s gonna go down as one of.”
Flagg is less than a year into his version of that same process. He’s doing it with a depleted roster, no second star, and the full weight of a franchise’s rebuild resting on his development. Tonight, the player Kidd compared him to walks through the door.
On the Dallas Side
Dallas will also be short-handed. Kyrie Irving (left knee surgery), Dereck Lively II (right foot surgery), and Caleb Martin (right plantar fascia) are out. Marvin Bagley III is listed as probable with a left shoulder impingement. Tyler Smith is questionable with low back spasms.
That puts the offensive load on Flagg, Klay Thompson — who leads the Mavericks in three-pointers made per game at 2.9 — and role players Max Christie, Naji Marshall, P.J. Washington, and Brandon Williams.
For the Lakers to manage tonight without Doncic and Reaves, role players such as Rui Hachimura, DeAndre Ayton, and Jake LaRavia will need to provide enough support so LeBron isn’t carrying every possession.
For the Mavericks to win, Flagg will likely need another 30-plus-point night.
