{"id":524712,"date":"2026-03-07T13:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T13:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/524712\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T13:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T13:14:11","slug":"cooper-flagg-says-chance-to-play-against-idol-jayson-tatum-was-incredible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/524712\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooper Flagg says chance to play against \u2018idol\u2019 Jayson Tatum was \u2018incredible\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON \u2014 Larry Bird was one of Cooper Flagg\u2019s biggest basketball influences, someone whose game he first absorbed on DVD<\/a>. As Flagg, in his rookie season with the Dallas Mavericks, developed from a small-town kid in Maine to a budding NBA star, there was a Boston Celtics player of this era who also helped shape him.<\/p>\n

Jayson Tatum, Flagg said, was a player he \u201cmodeled\u201d his game after. On Friday, the two of them faced each other for the first time in the NBA.<\/p>\n

Tatum made his season debut<\/a> after missing the past 10 months with a torn Achilles tendon. He looked rusty early and missed the first six shots he attempted, but discovered a rhythm just before halftime on his way to a 15-point, 12-rebound, seven-assist evening.<\/p>\n

Flagg fought through left foot soreness and finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists in an emotional night inside TD Garden, which was full of basketball fans from across New England who were there to support Flagg and Tatum.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredible,\u201d said Flagg after Dallas\u2019 120-100 loss to Boston. \u201cThere are so many levels to it. (Tatum) is someone I idolized growing up. Watched him go through levels and ranks. Watched him at Duke. Kind of followed in his footsteps. \u2026 It\u2019s really special just for me to have this experience tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tatum tore his right Achilles in a second-round playoff series against the New York Knicks on May 12, 2025 \u2014 hours after the Mavericks miraculously won the NBA draft lottery, which allowed them to select Flagg with the No. 1 pick.<\/p>\n

So far in his rookie season, Flagg has delivered on the expectations he came into the league with. Flagg\u2019s jump shot is still a work in progress, but he excels everywhere else. He leads the Mavericks in points, rebounds and assists, is second in steals, and ranks third in blocks.<\/p>\n

Flagg\u2019s team, however, is in transition. The Mavericks traded Anthony Davis in February and are headed back to the draft lottery this spring. Friday\u2019s loss was their sixth consecutive defeat \u2014 and 16th in 18 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think we weren\u2019t organized,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cPart of it is us still learning each other. And part of it was I wasn\u2019t good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the lopsided game was over, Flagg and Tatum met near midcourt and exchanged a hug.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just told me to keep going,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cHe\u2019s been a mentor for me through my journey from Duke to now. Someone I\u2019ve been able to talk to and get advice from. I told him the same. I told him it\u2019s incredible what he\u2019s able to do and how quickly he was able to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

In high school, Flagg attended Tatum\u2019s JT Elite basketball camp, a gathering of the top 20 freshman and sophomores from around the country. That was the first time Tatum laid eyes on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first impression I had of Coop was just how hard he played, how he competed,\u201d Tatum said on Jason and Travis Kelce\u2019s \u201cNew Heights\u201d podcast. \u201cIn high school, it\u2019s rare to see a guy who wants to guard the other team\u2019s best player, block every shot, rebound.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flagg received a loud ovation when he was introduced Friday during pregame warmups. Hundreds of basketball fans from Maine made the trip to Boston.<\/p>\n

Flagg is from a family of Celtics fans, so playing at TD Garden for the first time was going to be special no matter who was suiting up for the Celtics. But the fact that Tatum returned from a devastating injury in Flagg\u2019s first NBA game in Boston only added another layer to it all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to take a moment to take a deep breath and take it all in,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true. Just being out there on that court. Competing and playing at a high level. It was really special.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 Larry Bird was one of Cooper Flagg\u2019s biggest basketball influences, someone whose game he first absorbed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,1664,7235,590,85],"class_list":["post-524712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boston-celtics","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}