In the aftermath of the shocking Luka Dončić trade to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Dallas Mavericks headed into a new era of their franchise. The team chose to have superstar big man Anthony Davis at its core and then was able to land the No. 1 overall pick, which turned out to be Duke star Cooper Flagg, as a building block for the future in Dallas.
Even though the 2025-26 NBA season has been rough for the Mavericks, as they dealt with several injuries to key players and are rarely on the winning side of things from night to night, Flagg has shown the potential to be the future face of the franchise, as he definitely doesn’t play like a rookie in his first season in the league.
Cooper Flagg Joins Kobe Bryant and LeBron James in Elite Category
It has been a big week for Flagg, as he dropped a career-high 42 points against the Utah Jazz and followed that up by helping lead the Mavericks to a win over the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons in Dallas.
Along with being the leading scorer on the Mavericks right now, averaging 18.4 points per game, the rookie forward is now in elite company with current Lakers superstar LeBron James and NBA icon Kobe Bryant as the only 18-year-old players to score 500-plus points, according to StatMuse.
Although Flagg has had his rocky moments at times during his rookie campaign, the rising star is really starting to turn heads in Dallas, as he seems to be living up to expectations of a No. 1 overall pick.
The 18-year-old Flagg is currently averaging 6.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 48.2 percent from the field. However, he needs improvement in his outside shooting, as he shoots a disappointing 25 percent from beyond the arc, which obviously needs to be addressed.
Even though Flagg is anything but a finished product, there’s no question that he’s improving on a nightly basis, which is a promising sign for the future of the Mavericks franchise, which has taken a lot of bumps and bruises since trading Dončić to the Lakers.
In the meantime, the Mavericks are trying to crawl out of the early-season hole that they’ve dug themselves, as they are currently sporting an ugly losing record of 11-17, which has them in 11th place in the Western Conference.
However, the team recently got Davis back on the floor and has won six of its last 10 games, so Dallas might be starting to turn things around while also seeing Flagg come into his own.
