The No. 1 headliner at NBA Summer League this year has been the top overall pick in Dallas Mavericks rookie forward Cooper Flagg. After shaking off a so-so summer league debut by his standards, Cooper Flagg bounced back in his second summer league game for the Mavericks, including a nifty and-one that looked like shades of his Duke form from last season.
The play came late in the first quarter of the Mavericks’ summer league game against the San Antonio Spurs when Cooper Flagg isolated on the left wing, drove to the basket and but the ball up and in for the and-one.
During his first summer league game, Flagg finished with ten points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals and one blocked shot, but shot only 5-of-21 from the field. He bounced back with a much-stronger second summer league game against the Spurs with 31 points and four rebounds. He shot 10-of-21 in that game and 8-of-13 from the free-throw line.
With plenty of hype and anticipation surrounding Flagg, his rookie season in the NBA will surely garner plenty of attention and interest from media and fans alike. The Mavericks had a less than two percent chance of getting the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, but the basketball gods and lottery luck were on their side. Flagg will join a Dallas team that looks like it could be one of the better teams in the Western Conference, provided they stay healthy.
Flagg had been pegged as the No. 1 pick for quite some time, and that belief was only strengthened with his play at Duke in his lone season of college basketball. He was the ACC Rookie of the Year while averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists
He’s joining a deep frontcourt rotation for the Mavericks which includes Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively II and PJ Washington. The Mavericks made the play-in last season amid the injury woes, and defeated the Sacramento Kings in the first matchup. But they failed to make the postseason after failing to the Memphis Grizzlies in the deciding game for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.