Recently, the Dallas Mavericks kicked off their 2025-26 preseason with a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The win marked the preseason debut of number one overall draft pick Cooper Flagg, who scored ten points on good efficiency and also made some highlight plays on the defensive end of the floor.
Recently, the NBA conducted a survey of its general managers ahead of the upcoming seasons, and one of the questions asked was which rookie from the class they think will be the best player in five years.
Flagg secured an astonishing 93 percent of the vote, with VJ Edgecombe of the Philadelphia 76ers and Dylan Harper of the San Antonio Spurs also receiving votes.
It should be noted that the general managers don't exactly have a great track record of success in these surveys, as last year, they picked Houston Rockets guard Reed Sheppard as the winner both in this and the Rookie of the Year prediction categories, and he barely played at all last season. James Wiseman, previously of the Golden State Warriors, was the candidate selected five years ago ahead of players like Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards.
Still, the selection shows the great belief that the general managers and the league overall have in Flagg.
How much can Cooper Flagg contribute off the bat?
One important thing from Flagg's preseason debut was the fact that he knocked down a couple of three pointers, which will be crucial for a Mavericks team that has very little in the way of floor spacing at the current juncture, outside of Klay Thompson and D'Angelo Russell every few games.
If Flagg can indeed stretch the defense consistently, it will give Anthony Davis more room to operate and also help him boost his own numbers in the process. Of course, this will be less of an issue when Kyrie Irving is back in the lineup, but at this point, there's no indication on when that will be.
The Mavericks will kick off their regular season on October 22 against the San Antonio Spurs.
