{"id":512685,"date":"2026-03-09T08:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T08:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/512685\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T08:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T08:58:10","slug":"marc-stein-points-to-mavericks-cooper-flagg-dilemma-in-rookie-of-the-year-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/512685\/","title":{"rendered":"Marc Stein points to Mavericks\u2019 Cooper Flagg dilemma in Rookie of the Year race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marc Stein points to Mavericks\u2019 Cooper Flagg dilemma in Rookie of the Year race<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cooper Flagg<\/a> was the odds-on favorite to bag home the Rookie of the Year award before the 2025-26 season even began. A good opportunity awaited him with the Dallas Mavericks<\/a>, as in the aftermath of the Luka Doncic trade, he has a chance to step in immediately and become the superstar talent the team needs to build around. And for what it\u2019s worth, Flagg has been as good as advertised, if not way better.<\/p>\n

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While Flagg\u2019s averages of 20.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game this season are certainly good enough for him to win the esteemed award, Kon Knueppel\u2019s consistency for a much-improved Charlotte Hornets<\/a> team may end up tilting the award away from the Mavericks star.<\/p>\n

NBA insider Marc Stein, who has many connections with the Mavericks, also believes that the clash<\/a> between what\u2019s best for Dallas to end the year and what\u2019s best for Flagg from an individual standpoint may be what throws a wrench in Flagg\u2019s ROTY candidacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mavs have 18 games left, and the truth is, if they can go 0 \u2013 18 it would be the best thing for them. That\u2019s the way the system is,\u201d Stein said on the All NBA podcast. \u201cThe way the system is structured the best thing for the Mavs is to lose and to lose royally, and that\u2019s obviously not going to be great if you\u2019re chasing Rookie of the Year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mavs face pivotal year in Cooper Flagg-centric rebuild\"Jerome<\/p>\n

Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

As Stein noted, 2026 is the final time the Mavericks control their own first-round pick until 2031. This just means that Dallas has all the incentive in the world to try and lose as many games as possible to get into a better position to add a blue-chip prospect in the 2026 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

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This will be the priority of the team. Getting a potential co-star for Flagg for the long haul is imperative if they were to bounce back after the Luka Doncic tragedy.<\/p>\n

Related: Cooper Flagg, Brandon Ingram available for Mavericks-Raptors game<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Cooper Flagg, Brandon Ingram both dealing with uncertain injury statuses for Mavericks-Raptors NBA game<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marc Stein points to Mavericks\u2019 Cooper Flagg dilemma in Rookie of the Year race appeared first on ClutchPoints.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[11949,761,760,22487,3014,32435,355,99,37567],"class_list":["post-512685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-charlotte-hornets","tag-cooper-flagg","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-kon-knueppel","tag-luka-doncic","tag-marc-stein","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-the-mavericks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}