The 2025 Dallas Mavericks have a chance to bounce back massively this season after the way they finished last season. They made a massive move in trading away Luka Doncic to the Lakers, but then they had good luck. They ended up with the top pick in the NBA Draft and took Cooper Flagg out of Duke. Now, expectations have completely shifted in a good way.
When talking to the DLS Mavericks Podcast in Las Vegas for the Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford fight, Matt Barnes was asked about Cooper Flagg. He praised Flagg's motor and energy and said he obviously has the size and the skillset, but his motor immediately jumped out when he first saw him.
Matt Barnes said, “I absolutely love Cooper Flagg. I coach my kids in AAU, so I got to see him for one season, and what stood out to me the most was his effort and energy. I came from an era where effort was necessary, and he has one of the best efforts I've seen on both sides of the ball.
“What excites me most is his defensive prowess. He can be someone in today's NBA who can guard any position. On offense, he is freakishly athletic and continues to improve his jumper. I am really excited for his future.”
As excited as Barnes is to watch what happens with Flagg, he also recently subscribed to the idea that the NBA must have helped the Mavericks somehow because they were not a bad enough team. They still have quality players all over this roster, starting with Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis.
“There are certain things that happen, like when LeBron goes to Cleveland and he's from Cleveland, and Derrick Rose goes to Chicago, with the first pick, he's from Chicago. There are certain ways that the balls get played with to be favorable for teams,” Barnes said on a recent episode of Big Boy TV.
“Somehow, that was a favor because Dallas wasn't a bad team; they shouldn't have been the No. 1 team to get the pick,” he continued. “On the flip side, it's so important as a young player to go to a stable organization with veterans and great leadership. The ownership of the Dallas Mavericks has to show that now, their job is not to f–k it up because they've done some questionable things in their short time (after) taking over from Mark Cuban.”
Whether it was random or not does not matter because Dallas now has massive expectations, and they can get to the postseason immediately. It depends on what is around Cooper Flagg, especially when Kyrie Irving recovers from his ACL tear.
