Nothing is going right in Dallas with the Mavericks in 2025. Ever since the Mavs traded away Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers back in February, Dallas' core has been deteriorated by injuries and overall roster erosion, leaving them with an uncompetitive team so far this season.
A slow start to the year, combined with continued negative attention on general manager Nico Harrison as result of the Doncic trade, led Dallas to fire Harrison on Tuesday and officially pivot toward the future. After the Mavericks' latest loss, this one a 123-114 defeat against the Phoenix Suns, rookie forward Cooper Flagg was asked about Harrison and had nothing but nice things to say about him as a person.
“It’s about basketball,” Flagg said, per Joey Mistretta of ClutchPoints. “He seemed like a really great guy… At the end of the day, I’m here to play basketball. Whatever goes on above me, it’s above me. I can’t worry about it too much. Just going to keep trying to show up and be who I am and try and get better every single day.”
Flagg is the lone saving grace for the Mavericks coming out of the whole Doncic debacle. After Dallas flamed out of the play-in tournament last season, it won the top pick in the NBA Draft Lottery and the right to select Flagg at the top of the draft.
Flagg's fit in Dallas has been a bit wonky so far. The Mavericks are playing without a true point guard while Kyrie Irving makes his way back from a torn ACL, so they have been trying to make Flagg the starting point guard. The rookie handled the ball at times during his one season at Duke, but he is still not a natural at the position and would be much better off playing forward.
However, the Mavs have not found that balance just yet and are now in a deep hole in what should be a very crowded Western Conference. This latest loss dropped Dallas to 3-9 on the season and Anthony Davis is down with a calf injury that is lingering around.
