A wild twist of basketball fate will send Cooper Flagg to Dallas by way of the top pick in 2025. The 2025 NBA Draft is the Cooper Flagg draft and for good reason. He’s one of the very best prospects of the millennium, whose presence will shift the trajectory of his future franchise.
That franchise will almost certainly be the Dallas Mavericks, who receive a badly needed lifeline after inexplicably trading away Luka Doncic. There are plenty of non-basketball-related ramifications surrounding the pick, but that’s a story for another day. The idea of Flagg meshing with Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis is an undeniably intriguing basketball fit.
How will Flagg’s role change in Dallas?
Assuming Dallas can avoid stacking injuries, Flagg’s role will shift drastically from what it looked like at Duke. Flagg was the fulcrum of Duke’s offense last season, carrying a historically high usage for freshmen forwards, especially ones as young as Flagg. His 30.8% usage rate rivals any freshman forward in recent college basketball history.
In Dallas, the presence of solidified stars and role players will depress his usage. We’ll likely see Flagg slot in as the third option behind Davis and Irving early in his career. It’s a major departure from what he’d likely see if he landed in Utah, Washington or Charlotte.
Despite the intense defensive attention Flagg received, he still created efficient offense, managing a strong 59.3% true shooting and an excellent 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio. He’ll have a chance to spike his efficiency at the next level early on as defenses key in on Davis and Irving more than Flagg.
His playtype frequency will certainly shift from his initiator usage in college. According to Synergy, Flagg spent 38.5% of his possessions as a pick-and-roll handler, isolation player or post-up player. For comparison, Nikola Jokic spent 41% of his possessions this season on those three playtypes.
In Dallas, Flagg will spot-up from the perimeter, cut to the basket, roll and score in transition. He’s proficient at all of these with experience thriving as an off-ball player next to players like Kon Knueppel and Derik Queen throughout his college and high school career.
Flagg will thrive off the ball in the NBA
Beyond his potential as a primary on-ball creator and primary paint defender, Flagg’s scalability helps make him a special prospect. While he can take over games on his own, Flagg has no issues sliding back into a lower usage role. Many young players can’t or won’t play off of the ball at the level Flagg can.
He’ll excel on short rolls with Irving, weaponizing his finishing in space and quick floor processing to find open teammates. There’s plenty of potential for him and Davis to thrive in actions together with Flagg as a screener for Davis or Flagg on the ball with Davis screening. His perimeter skills could let Dallas run some truly enormous lineups with a mix of him, Davis, Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford.
A rebuilding team would accelerate Flagg’s offensive development, forcing him to learn and grow through mistakes as a heavy usage engine. In Dallas, his growth won’t come as quickly, for better or for worse. His early defensive impact and elite versatility could help form a devastating defense for the Mavericks, but they won’t rely on him for primary creation early.
One day, Flagg will evolve into that primary creator. Whether that comes due to Davis and Irving’s injuries or something else, his time in the sun will come. Until then, he’ll learn and grow as a complementary offensive player in a (hopefully) winning environment.
