NBA Announces Special Cooper Flagg Summer League Debut vs. Bronny James, Lakers

Flagg's debut headlines the opening night of the NBA's Las Vegas Summer League.

Flagg arrives before the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

One day after Duke's Cooper Flagg officially became a Dallas Maverick as the No. 1 pick of the 2025 NBA draft, the league announced the first time fans will see him on the court at the next level.

No, not his first regular-season game with the Mavs when it counts, but the NBA planned a special Summer League debut for Flagg to kick off the action in Las Vegas this July. On Thursday, ESPN announced Flagg will compete against Bronny James and the Los Angeles Lakers on the first night of Vegas Summer League.

The Mavs and Lakers will kick off a doubleheader, which will see the second and third picks of the draft as the nightcap when Dylan Harper and the San Antonio Spurs go up against V.J. Edgecombe and the Philadelphia 76ers.

📢 #NBA Programming Update:

July 10, @ESPNNBA will present an @NBASummerLeague doubleheader ft. the Mavericks debut of @Cooper_Flagg against the Lakers & Bronny James⁰
🏀 8p ET | @dallasmavs vs @Lakers
🏀 10p ET | @spurs vs @sixers pic.twitter.com/XwQ1lbCoUv

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) June 27, 2025

Vegas Summer League will run from July 10–20 as Flagg headlines along Harper, Edgecombe and the rest of their fellow '25 draftees who heard their names called this week. Even if Flagg doesn't play in each of the Mavs' Summer League games, his debut gets the primetime slot as expected in an intriguing matchup.

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