Even now, on the cusp of his third NBA season, Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II is among the NBA’s younger players at 21 years, 247 days old.
That makes it all the more entertaining for Lively to watch fellow Dukie Cooper Flagg fit in so organically with Mavericks teammates who, in seven cases, are at least a decade his senior.
“He’s always trying to poke fun at the old guys, which is hilarious,” Lively said Friday after the Mavericks’ practice in their training facility. “But I make sure he doesn’t bring that towards me because I’m not that old.”
When the Mavericks open the regular season at home next Wednesday against San Antonio, Flagg will be the NBA’s youngest player at 18 years, 10 months and one day old. He’ll also be the second-youngest No. 1 pick in league history – eight days younger than LeBron James’ in 2003.
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Lively is two years, 10 months and nine days older than Flagg, which puts Lively more in the older brother category than the moniker with which Flagg addresses teammates.
“No matter who you are, he’s like, ‘All right, Unc,’ ” Lively said. “I let him call me Unc once or twice because of my dad, but we ain’t letting it slide anymore.”
Hey, at least Flagg isn’t calling anyone Pops or Gramps. Mavericks coach Jason Kidd notes that none of Flagg’s teammates so much as raised an eyebrow while Kidd handed Flagg starting point guard duties for the Mavericks’ final two preseason games.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Flagg will start at point guard in the season opener, but now Kidd and his staff know that it won’t be an issue if Flagg plays that position during stretches this season.
In four preseason contests, Flagg averaged 11.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 21.7 minutes per game.
“I think he’s done an incredible job of handling the situation, of running the team,” Kidd said after Wednesday’s win over the Lakers in Las Vegas. “The other thing that I think that has gone unnoticed is that his teammates enjoy him running the team. That doesn’t happen in this league. So I think that’s a plus.”
Kidd said the Mavericks spent the first part of Friday’s practice watching film of the 27-point win over the short-handed Lakers and looking at areas that need cleaning up before the season opener.
“Watching the video, things that we did well and then things that we have to continue to keep working at, I thought it was good today,” Kidd said. “I thought guys did a really good job in the film room, and then bringing that information on to the court.”
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