{"id":874069,"date":"2026-10-07T15:30:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T15:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/874069\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T15:30:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T15:30:55","slug":"the-cooper-flagg-leap-is-hiding-in-plain-sight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/874069\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cooper Flagg Leap Is Hiding in Plain Sight"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBA<\/a>NBA<\/a>He was historically good as a rookie. Now imagine what happens when his team actually helps him.\"\"Getty Images\/Ringer illustration\"\"<\/a>By Michael Pina<\/a>Oct. 7, 1:37 pm UTC \u2022 8 min<\/p>\n

At the center of a Venn diagram of inescapable hype, bottomless potential, and impossibly seasoned skill sits Cooper Flagg, who is somehow still a teenager.<\/p>\n

The reigning NBA Rookie of the Year has exceeded pretty much every expectation<\/a> ever bestowed on him. His first season was a stunning campaign, spotlit with flares of prodigious talent and an innate feel for a game he\u2019ll almost certainly master soon. As the youngest player in the league, Flagg led the Dallas Mavericks in total points, rebounds, and steals; tied for first in assists; and finished second in blocks. His stake-planting performances were a revelation: He exploded for 51 points in just 33 minutes against the Magic, 49 points and 10 rebounds against the Hornets, and 45 points and nine assists against the Lakers. In those three games, Flagg committed a grand total of five turnovers. (His true shooting percentage was above league average in 17 of the 21 games in which he scored at least 25 points.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

So here I sit, thinking about Flagg with opening night just a couple of weeks away. Two questions come to mind: (1) How much better is he about to be? And (2) why isn\u2019t the anticipation surrounding said leap a bigger deal? This eventful summer may be the answer to the latter question; it was jam-packed with buzzy free agent signings and trades<\/a> that may affect the title race. And as far as ascending face-of-the-league candidates go, Victor Wembanyama has lapped the field and left little room for debate. I get all that. But Flagg isn\u2019t a normal second-year player. And the situation he\u2019s about to step into is so much more advantageous and respectable than it was last season. Kyrie Irving is healthy. Dusty May has replaced Jason Kidd as Dallas\u2019s head coach. Masai Ujiri now oversees a team that Nico Harrison had warped beyond recognition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a rookie, Flagg not only had to familiarize himself with the kind of speed, size, and schematic intricacies he\u2019d never experienced before but also had to grapple with ghosts from a bygone era\u2014the blend of delusion and pain from the Luka Doncic trade<\/a>, which had happened just four months before the 2025 NBA draft. The team still employed too many people like Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson, who weren\u2019t able or willing to downshift properly and prioritize a rookie who needed to exist at the center of their collective orbit.<\/p>\n

It was an unfair aftermath for Flagg to land in. A rocket launching from rubble. Flagg infamously began his career out of position as a point guard, largely because Dallas\u2019s frontcourt was overcrowded. Davis, Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively II, Dwight Powell, Marvin Bagley III, and Moussa Cisse were all on the roster which lacked any established playmakers while Irving was out recovering from ACL surgery. (It\u2019s probably no coincidence that Dallas had an above-average offense when Flagg shared the court with real point guards like Brandon Williams or Ryan Nembhard\u2014something that didn\u2019t happen alongside any other teammates who logged at least 150 minutes with him.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The more Kidd had Flagg playing point guard, the less efficient he and his team were. Desirable field goal attempts were few and far between. According to Basketball Index, Flagg ranked 134th out of 136 rookies in half-court shot quality Even his good looks were \u2026 not good. Last year, 150 players attempted at least 140 shots that were deemed wide open by the NBA\u2019s tracking data<\/a>. Flagg ranked dead last in effective field goal percentage, right behind Dyson Daniels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But for all his processing errors and missed jump shots, Flagg\u2019s first-year flaws can easily be explained by his surroundings, the likes of which are typically endured by any no. 1 pick tasked with fixing a broken franchise. Spacing was a struggle, defense was optional, and establishing actual winning habits was ultimately frowned upon But he dealt with the discomfort about as well as anyone could, constantly searching for solid ground in a city that was still sifting through an unprecedented NBA trauma. Not every prospect could recover from the abysmal splits he submitted last year. He was one of the worst 3-point shooters in the league, settled for far too many long 2s, and helmed an offense that finished 3.5 points per 100 possessions below league average when he was on the floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And \u2026 I pretty much couldn\u2019t care less about any of it. The only teenage rookies in NBA history who\u2019ve scored more points than Flagg<\/a> were Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Kevin Durant. All of their true shooting and effective field goal percentages were lower than Flagg\u2019s. This isn\u2019t a 19-year-old who lost his way. It\u2019s a generational prodigy who spent months tinkering, learning, and enduring through the type of struggle that will benefit him in the long run. Year one forced Flagg to develop by forcing him to think through thorny circumstances instead of consistently putting him in a position to succeed. Trial and error. He responded by rarely looking flustered. It was almost eerie how instantaneously he belonged.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The only player I\u2019d trade him for is Wemby. I still think Kon Knueppel deserved to win Rookie of the Year, but my criteria for that award shouldn\u2019t be confused with the infinite optimism I have about what Flagg will soon be.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it seems like there\u2019s a halo above his head. Will he make his first All-Star appearance or even snag a spot on one of the All-NBA teams? Can he average something like 27 points, eight boards, and six assists per game? Will catchall metrics recognize him as one of the 15 to 20 best players on the planet There are several reasons to think all of the above are somewhat realistic, with perhaps the biggest cause for optimism being Kyrie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To get a couple caveats out of the way, yes, Irving\u2019s 34 years old and missed all of last season rehabbing a torn ACL. If a team that\u2019s closer to winning it all (like the Detroit Pistons) wants to offer real assets for Irving before the trade deadline passes, the Mavericks would be foolish not to pay attention. But if that doesn\u2019t happen and one of the greatest sidekicks in NBA history stays put, Kyrie works well on or off the ball can streamline Flagg\u2019s responsibilities and make his job so much easier than it was.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The attention Kyrie draws on the court is an obvious boon. But he and Flagg should also be able to run a pretty good two-man game. Flagg can set ball screens, roll into space, and either knock down a 10-footer or swing the ball to an open shooter\u2014a form of attack that wasn\u2019t at his disposal much last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even when he isn\u2019t on the court with Irving, Flagg may be able to run the show by himself. He already demonstrates key ingredients like patience, and he rarely makes bad pass turnovers. When he dribbles off a screen and surveys the floor, he has an unhurried, unbothered aura that can\u2019t be taught. It\u2019s effortless and natural. This is a person who was born to dominate the NBA someday. If we were able to track plays that make you think, \u201cHoly shit, that was special,\u201d Flagg would easily rank in the top 10. That has to matter. Take the pass below as an example. Either you can get downhill, bait Wemby into taking a step away from his man, and then sneak a lob over his head at the absolute perfect speed, or you can\u2019t:<\/p>\n

Either you have enough strength and improvisational touch to make an off-balance push shot look like it was your intention the moment you caught the ball, or you don\u2019t:\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to daydream about someone whose career trajectory resembles the ascent up Everest. But watching Flagg is still a visceral experience, powerful enough to snap you into the present moment. How did he do what I just saw him do? Get ready for a lot of that.<\/p>\n

Flagg slogged through last season, but his skill set is tailor-made for collaboration and velocity. This isn\u2019t someone who needs the ball to be successful. He\u2019s currently listed at 6-foot-10 (and he\u2019s still growing!), and his instincts on the weakside go hand in hand with his seemingly endless reservoir of energy. He\u2019s a loose Champagne cork in the open floor, but he also knows when to cut through gaps and can finish in the paint with either hand.<\/p>\n

This year he\u2019ll have younger, more complementary teammates who can shoot, pass, and dribble. Skilled athletes who can accentuate Flagg\u2019s grace from baseline to baseline\u2014he may lead the league in fast-break points this season\u2014while affording him a little more room to work in the half court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Max Christie, a prototypical 3-and-D fixture, is returning. Zaccharie Risacher was acquired to gallop up and down the sideline, dunk, and knock down corner 3s. Santi Aldama is a relatively unheralded ideal acquisition who can pick and pop, attack closeouts, and punish mismatches in the post. Rookie forward Morez Johnson Jr. will fly around, embrace the dirty work, and turn up his high motor on the boards. And Irving\u2019s teams usually have a pretty high transition frequency and perform better in that category when he\u2019s on the floor.<\/p>\n

Improvement is a given, but some areas matter more than others. A tighter shot selection is achievable, and there\u2019s no reason to believe Flagg\u2019s accuracy on long 2s and spot-up 3s won\u2019t bounce up. (Flagg is already an excellent free throw shooter.) How much better will that jumper be, though? Can he consistently punish on-ball defenders who duck under screens or rise up over or crash through bigs in a drop? Will he space the floor for others?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the entire organization, this summer was a series of baby steps in the right direction. But I still don\u2019t think that Dallas will be good enough to make the play-in. Its roster remains imperfect and is at the start of a rebuild. Irving, P.J. Washington, and Daniel Gafford are possible trade fodder; Lively is always hurt; and it\u2019ll take time for the incoming pieces to adjust to a new environment in the incredibly competitive Western Conference. But at the same time, if there\u2019s one team that\u2019s likely to be ahead of schedule this season, it\u2019s probably the Mavericks. Flagg\u2019s mix of upside and maturity transports you to a hypothetical first-round series where he just scored 37 points in a shocking Game 2 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are juicier subplots occupying our current NBA discourse, but give it a few months. Flagg may just consume them all.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Pina<\/p>\n

<\/a>Michael Pina is a senior staff writer at The Ringer who covers the NBA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBANBAHe was historically good as a rookie. Now imagine what happens when his team actually helps him.Getty Images\/Ringer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-874069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874069","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=874069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}