Cooper Flagg’s Journey to Greatness
When Wednesday’s game with Indiana began, I thought the worst news for the Mavericks, beyond their 1-3 record, was the report that Cooper Flagg had placed fourth in the first week of Kia Rookie of the Year rankings in the NBA.
Maybe you weren’t overly alarmed by this. Maybe, like me, you didn’t know such a thing as a weekly Kia Rookie of the Year rankings even existed. But I do know the basketball world marveled at the Mavericks’ luck in securing the first pick after having just a 1.8% chance to win the lottery last May. And I know there was never a doubt in anyone’s minds that that pick would be Flagg, so maybe we need to give him more time — 10 games maybe? — before casting too many harsh judgments his way.
The Mavericks’ Current Situation
Flagg contributed 15 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in the Mavericks’ 109-107 win over the Indiana Pacers, who may be the only team with more serious injuries than Dallas. And it’s possible the Mavericks caught them in that regard when Anthony Davis played just seven minutes before limping to the bench after an awkward landing at the offensive end.
See photos as Cooper Flagg, Mavericks hold off Pacers for gritty victory
Anthony Davis’ Injury
While patience is the only way to go with Flagg, the Mavericks have no time for it with Davis. He was playing with an Achilles injury and may have just made things a whole lot worse, which, for him, could only mean missing an astronomical number of games.
“Left lower leg soreness,” head coach Jason Kidd said after the game. ”We’ll see how he feels going forward.”
We won’t know more on Davis for a few more hours or perhaps days. If it’s bad, it’s bad, but it’s neither unprecedented nor unexpected. The idea that Davis would lead this team right up until the moment his injured sidekick, Kyrie Irving, returns from knee surgery was foolish to begin with. Davis is in his 13th season, Irving his 14th and both have missed hundreds of games with injuries.
Flagg’s Future
This team belongs to Flagg — sometime in the near future and maybe sooner than planned for the general manager who was counting on Davis and Irving and a misplaced “defense wins championships” mantra to cause fans to forget the Luka Doncic trade.
Not going to happen now. Was never going to happen, anyway.
So it’s on to Flagg, whose start through five games has been quieter than you might have anticipated after he was all-everything last year at Duke. Through five games he’s delivering 13.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
Yes, that’s about a decent half for Luka, but no one said he was the second coming of that.
“Before the season’s done, you’ll see everything out of him,” visiting Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. “His versatility, size, dynamic, the fact that he’s playing point guard is a strong enough statement. He shoots the ball, and he’s making kind of off-the-fly plays in real time, seeing things in a split second’s notice. That’s pretty amazing.”
