The Dallas Mavericks are exactly one month away from kicking off their 2025-26 season with a home game against the San Antonio Spurs. It's been a busy offseason for the Mavericks, headlined by the drafting of Cooper Flagg at number one overall after their shocking NBA Draft Lottery win.
Recently, ESPN conducted a poll of various league executives heading into the season, and one of the questions asked was who will be the best American player in the league in five years.
While Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards got the majority of the votes, Flagg was in second place in the survey.
“…It's unfair to Cooper to put that on him before playing in one NBA game. So, it's Ant until proven otherwise,” said one Western Conference scout, per Tim Bontemps.
However, some were more sold on Flagg's ability.
“He can do everything,” said an Eastern Conference executive.
Flagg was also nearly the unanimous prediction for Rookie of the Year this year, garnering 19 of a possible 20 votes, with the lone other selection being his former Duke teammate and current Charlotte Hornets wing Kon Knueppel.
“He'll be on a bad team, will have the ball in his hands and put up numbers,” one coach said as his reasoning for selecting Knueppel.
Flagg was also widely projected to be the best player from the 2025 Draft Class in five years.
An interesting situation for the Mavericks
While the selection of Flagg helped soften the blow of the Luka Doncic trade, it's unclear whether the Mavericks have enough as currently constructed to compete.
As great as Flagg may eventually be, there will inevitably be growing pains, and Dallas isn't likely to have much in the way of perimeter scoring or creation with Kyrie Irving sidelined to begin the year with an ACL injury.
Combine that with Anthony Davis' unreliability from an injury perspective, and it's possible that no team has a bigger disparity between their ceiling and floor than the Mavericks entering this season.
However, if nothing else, Mavericks fans will be excited to watch their next superstar grow and blossom until he finally reaches the beginning years of his prime, at which point they will trade him.
