If the Mavericks weren’t struggling enough with a 1-3 start after four home games, the news came out Wednesday that Cooper Flagg ranks fourth in the first Kia Rookie of the Year standings.
Maybe you aren’t overly alarmed at this. Maybe, like me, you didn’t know such a thing as a weekly Kia Rookie of the Year rankings even existed. But I do know the basketball world marveled at the Mavericks’ luck in securing the first pick after having just a 1.8% chance to win the lottery last May. And I know there was never a doubt in anyone’s minds that that pick would be Flagg, so maybe we need to give him more time — 10 games maybe? — before casting too many harsh judgments his way.
“Before the season’s done, you’ll see everything out of him,” visiting Indiana Coach Rick Carlisle said before Wednesday’s game. “His versatility, size, dynamic, the fact that he’s playing point guard is a strong enough statement. He shoots the ball, and he’s making kind of off-the-fly plays in real time, seeing things in a split second’s notice. That’s pretty amazing.’’
Flagg was averaging just 13 points per game before the Pacers’ contest, partly a function of scoring two points in 31 minutes against Oklahoma City Monday night. The Thunder, of course, are the defending NBA champions and, rather clearly, the best defensive team in the league.
Mavericks
Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) throws down a fourth quarter dunk against the Washington Wizards at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, October 24, 2025.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
“I think we all agree that wasn’t his best game,” Coach Jason Kidd said, “but this is new to him and he’s got to work through all that. I think for him to work through a back-to-back [he had his best game, 22 points in 29 minutes, against Toronto Sunday] with the mindset of getting better is something. There’s a lot to it.
“Back-to-back [games], being able to run the show [as a point guard], being on tape now, you know he just has to go through it.’’
The learning curve is topped by the fact that Flagg is younger than those who might contend with him for the Rookie of the Year (and might not, depending upon how the season plays out). Flagg is 18 and doesn’t turn 19 until December. He may have looked like a polished pro in leading Duke to the Final Four last spring, but he’s just a kid, the youngest guy in the gym night after night.
Philadelphia’s V.J. Edgecombe, who happened to carry the distinction of that No. 1 standard in those Kia rankings, is averaging 22 points a night for the Sixers. He was a good player at Baylor last year and turned 20 this summer. Lake Highland‘s Tre Johnson (by way of one high-scoring season at Texas) is scoring 14.8 per night for the Wizards and had 17 here in a win over Dallas on Friday. He and the Spurs’ Dylan Harper are 19, closest to Flagg in age, while Memphis’ Cedric Coward, who was ranked second this week and has the highest points per minutes average, turned 22 last month.
These additional months and years make a world of difference for those just beginning to understand the challenge of the NBA.
“It’s important because when you’re a little bit older [than Flagg], you’ve seen a little bit more,” Kidd said. “Young players are counted on now in this league to deliver, and they are playing at a high level. The rookie class is pretty good when you look around the league. Some might be a little older than Cooper so they’ve seen a little more.
“But I think Cooper’s up for this challenge, and I think it’s all right to fail because you’ve got another day to come to work to be great.”
As the games pile up, the experience starts to add up, and maybe, just maybe, if Kidd allows D’Angelo Russell to carry more of the point guard burden, Flagg’s numbers will rise. Through four games he was shooting just 38% from the floor and 26.7% from the foul line. That’s not what the Mavericks expect from the first overall pick, but sometimes a little history lesson allows us to see the bigger picture.
It was 26 years ago that the Mavericks added a highly touted rookie from Germany named Dirk Nowitzki to the mix, hoping he could turn into some kind of scoring threat along with being 7 feet tall.
He was almost a full two years older than Flagg when he joined the NBA. He scored two points in his NBA debut against Seattle. He averaged 8.2 points per game for the season, made 40% of his field goals and just under 21% from the 3-point line. And he wasn’t even a second-team all-NBA pick at the end of that 1999 season.
I don’t know if Dirk ever slipped into the top 10 of the Kia Rookie rankings that year. I’m not even sure they made Kias 26 years ago, now that I think of it. But his career turned out just fine. There’s a street outside the AAC with his name on it.
“I remember in Dirk’s first few years, there were a lot of comparisons to other guys,” Carlisle said. “And you know, it’s just that that is a rough way to go. So [Flagg] is a great young player. I mean his disposition, personality, effect, all that stuff is, like, you know, serious business. And it’s pretty, pretty cool.
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