The Dallas Mavericks are currently gearing up for their 2024-25 season, recently finding out that they will have both an opening week and Christmas Day nationally televised game this year. A large part of the reason why there is still considerable hype around Dallas despite the Luka Doncic trade and Kyrie Irving injury is the presence of Cooper Flagg, whom the team drafted number one overall this past June.

Flagg hails from Maine, prompting some fans to give him the nickname “The Maine Event,” and recently, a farmer from Maine paid homage to Flagg with an epic corn maze that was designed to resemble the number one overall pick shooting the basketball, per the Mavs' account on X, formerly Twitter.

In many ways, Flagg is responsible for putting his home state on the map in terms of basketball–Maine is not exactly known as a sports hub, and even though Flagg eventually transferred out of the state and down to Florida to finish out his high school career against better competition, he's still frequently shown love to his home state during his rise to fame.

A strange situation for the Mavericks

Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison and Mavericks first overall pick Cooper Flagg and head coach Jason Kidd pose for a photo at the Dallas Mavericks Practice Facility.
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

It's not often that a number one overall pick walks into a situation where three future Hall of Famers are already on the roster (in this case, Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Klay Thompson). However, that's exactly the situation that Cooper Flagg finds himself in ahead of the upcoming 2025-26 NBA season.

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Conspiracy theorists were abuzz when the Mavericks landed the number one overall pick less than four months after trading Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in what was widely regarded as the worst transaction in NBA history.

However, for Mavericks fans, the addition of Flagg figures to provide some sort of silver lining amid what was the darkest period in their franchise's history.

At this point, it's hard to envision the Mavericks competing for much considering the state of their guard rotation with Irving sidelined due to an ACL injury, but once Kyrie returns, Dallas could have one of the deepest rosters in the NBA.

The Mavericks will get their season underway on October 22 against the San Antonio Spurs.

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