The Dallas Mavericks played their first preseason game on Monday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. One of the main highlights was how rookie forward Cooper Flagg performed in his first NBA experience. Flagg helped the Mavericks capture the 106-89 win and finished with 10 points, six rebounds and three assists in 14 minutes of action. The team didn’t want him to spend too much time on the floor, but wanted the first-year forward to get his rhythm.
After the Mavericks traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers last season, the organization needed to be in the good graces of the fans. Fortunately for the franchise, they acquired the No. 1 pick, which they used to draft Flagg. In his first preseason game, he’s gradually showing that he has the star quality and would end up as one of the best players in the league one day.
Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd was impressed with what he saw from Flagg. According to Kidd, the youngster has been putting the same effort on the floor since the start of training camp. What he showed in front of the fans is no different.
“He was great. Cooper did an incredible job for us. He’s been doing this for us since training camp started in Vancouver. You got to see the defensive side. You got to see the playmaking. And then the scoring ability. He was really, really good tonight,” Kidd said after the game.
The head coach was also proud of what he saw with Cooper Flagg’s playmaking.
“That’s going to be one of our strengths…He did a great job of finding guys. For an 18-year-old, it’s kind of special to watch.”
Cooper Flagg talked about sharing the floor with Anthony Davis
Fans saw an early glimpse of a potential new duo in Dallas on Monday. Cooper Flagg got to share the floor with Anthony Davis for the first time. According to the former Duke star, playing with Davis is a different style of play.
“I think it’s interesting. It’s a different style of basketball that I haven’t played with before,” Flagg stated.
But Flagg recognized that playing with AD allows him to broaden his game.
“But it just allows me to expand my game, play on the perimeter a lot, and kind of just help the fluidity with AD, me, we both can play a guard position and just play that positionless basketball.”
While they wait for Kyrie Irving to recover from his ACL injury, Flagg and Davis could turn into a dynamic duo.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
