{"id":119244,"date":"2026-01-11T19:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T19:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/119244\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T19:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T19:18:11","slug":"could-mavericks-cooper-flagg-become-the-first-all-star-rookie-in-more-than-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/119244\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Mavericks\u2019 Cooper Flagg become the first All-Star rookie in more than a decade?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no doubt Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg<\/a> will inevitably receive an invitation to the Rising Stars game during next month\u2019s NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

His back-to-back Rookie of the Month awards<\/a> have all but sealed that honor, but could Flagg become the first rookie since Blake Griffin in 2011 to make it to the \u201cBig Game?\u201d<\/p>\n

Flagg entered the All-Star conversation earlier this week as the only rookie to land on the list of top-20 vote getters for both conferences<\/a> in the league\u2019s second fan returns. He ranked 16th in the Western Conference with 236,182 votes. That mark is slightly behind the 269,979 votes collected by 13th-place teammate Anthony Davis. The recognition surprised Flagg, who\u2019s re-written several NBA records during his first two months as a professional.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel blessed,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cObviously, to see that is really cool. I feel really honored and really blessed just to see my name up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mavericks<\/p>\n

Be the smartest Mavericks fan. Get the latest news.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s quite rare for a rookie to make the All-Star Game. Only 45 rookies have received the honor in the league\u2019s 80-year history. Just eight have been selected since the draft lottery era began in 1985, with Griffin as the most recent. Prior to that, Yao Ming accomplished the feat in 2003.<\/p>\n

Griffin could not play for the LA Clippers during the 2009-10 season because of an injury, but he dominated in his official rookie year and averaged 22.5 points, 12.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists in the 2010-11 campaign.<\/p>\n

By comparison, Flagg is averaging 18.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists through 38 games this season. In December, he grew more comfortable on offense and played his best basketball to date. He totaled 23.5 points per game, which included a career-high 42 points in a loss at Utah on Dec. 15<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be on that list speaks volumes to what he\u2019s doing right now,\u201d said Davis, who boasts 10 All-Star appearances. \u201cHe\u2019s putting the league on notice that\u2019s he\u2019s going to be a multi-selection All-Star for a long time, whether it\u2019s on the bench or starting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several of the Flagg\u2019s teammates understand how difficult it is to make the All-Star game as a first-year player. Both Davis and 9-time All-Star guard Kyrie Irving didn\u2019t earn their first appearance until their sophomore seasons. The same goes for Mavericks coach Jason Kidd<\/a>, who also has 10 All-Star nods on his resume. It wasn\u2019t until Klay Thompson\u2019s fifth season when the veteran sharpshooter began a streak of five straight appearances.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will be a perennial All-Star. It\u2019s only a matter of time,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n

Kidd guaranteed that Flagg will be in Inglewood, Calif. whether he makes the All-Star Game or not, alluding to his participation in the Rising Stars game, which will be held Feb. 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to be there no matter what,\u201d Kidd said. \u201cIf he participates in the Big Game, that\u2019s because of the work he\u2019s put in. We hope that he does make the Big Game and he gets voted in. He\u2019s playing at a high level for a young player. He\u2019s taking on the best defender. He\u2019s trying to help his team win. He\u2019s been very successful in late game. Hopefully he\u2019s in the Big Game, but he will participate in the Little Game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NBA will use a new format for this season\u2019s All-Star Game with two teams of U.S. players and one team of international players. They will compete in a round-robin tournament featuring four 12-minute games. This year, All-Stars are being selected regardless of position.<\/p>\n

The league will announce one more round of fan returns before voting concludes on Wednesday at 10:59 p.m. CT. The starters will be revealed on Jan. 19, the same day the Mavericks<\/a> visit the New York Knicks. The All-Star Game will be held at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. on Feb. 15 at 4 p.m. CT.<\/p>\n

Flagg is a lock to play on All-Star Friday night as long as he stays healthy over the next month. However, it\u2019ll take a massive leap in votes to become an All-Star starter. It could be even more difficult for the rookie to earn the recognition from the NBA\u2019s head coaches, who vote for All-Star reserves.<\/p>\n

But what about All-Star Saturday night? The rookie has an impressive highlight reel full of dunks that could qualify for entry into the annual Slam Dunk Contest. Flagg has 38 dunks this season, including several posterizing finishes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Flagg was noncommittal when asked about the possibility, but didn\u2019t rule it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cSee, I don\u2019t know if I can really compete,\u201d Flagg said Thursday in Salt Lake City. \u201cI\u2019m more of an in-game dunker so never say never, but I don\u2019t know if I can really compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flagg\u2019s latest return to Utah nearly resulted in his first triple-double<\/a>, but it was a consequential game for the Mavericks because Davis suffered ligament damage in his left hand<\/a>, which will sideline him indefinitely.<\/p>\n

Since Dec. 29, Flagg\u2019s production has taken a dip with averages of 15.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6.2 assists on 38.7% shooting with 3.0 turnovers per in the Mavericks\u2019 last six games. He scored just 11 points and committed five turnovers in Saturday\u2019s loss to the Chicago Bulls. <\/p>\n

Kidd recently admitted Flagg needs to embrace the infamous Rookie Wall to ultimately overcome it. <\/p>\n

Whether Flagg earns his first All-Star nod or not, the Mavericks will need him to play like one while Davis is sidelined.<\/p>\n

X:@MikeACurtis2<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Los<\/a>Kings\u2019 Schroder draws 3-game suspension for off-court confrontation with Luka Doncic, per report<\/a><\/p>\n

The NBA announced that the confrontation occurred about 40 minutes after the Kings\u2019 loss to the Lakers on Dec. 28.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Frank Vogel steps into familiar role, but Mavericks\u2019 poor defensive effort leads to loss<\/a><\/p>\n

With Jason Kidd ejected in the first quarter, it was the veteran NBAer Vogel leading Dallas against the Chicago Bulls.<\/p>\n

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s no doubt Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg will inevitably receive an invitation to the Rising Stars game during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4643,4642,102,104,2582,103,4280,4641,4281,3080,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-119244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-anthony-davis","9":"tag-cooper-flagg","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-headlines","12":"tag-dallas-mavericks","13":"tag-dallas-news","14":"tag-jason-kidd","15":"tag-kyrie-irving","16":"tag-mavericks","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}