Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg Offers Building Block for New Era

Following last year’s trade saga, the Dallas Mavericks seemed to be careening toward a new era. One that wasn’t necessarily looked upon positively.

Aging Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving and a bevy of proven additives that likely didn’t have enough oomph to fit in where they once did. Dallas was good, but not Finals-bound good, as they had been the season prior.

That was, of course, before they cashed in on just a 1.8% chance to land the top pick, grabbing Duke’s Cooper Flagg No. 1 at the 2025 NBA Draft and never looking back.

Flagg should’ve been a known factor. A 6-foot-9, high-feel forward who led Duke to the Final Four and won National Player of the Year in the process. He saw an all-time Box Plus-minus, an advanced metric used to estimate a player’s total contributions, and his collegiate counting stats weren’t too bad either: 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.4 steals.

Despite that, there were still rumblings and grumblings when the 18-year-old forward needed a few games to get his sea legs in Dallas.

That’s finally been dispelled with his string of recent performances, including a 42-point outburst versus the Utah Jazz on Monday night, where he went for seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal too.

COOPER FLAGG TONIGHT 🤯

42 PTS
6 AST
7 REB
Most PTS scored by an 18-year-old in a single game EVER

HISTORY. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/OT9do8bnxw
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 16, 2025

In his last 11 games, Flagg has scored 22.4 points on 51% shooting, adding over six rebounds and four assists per game. He’s barely his threes, just 17% in that span, signaling he can see All-Star output when the shots not falling (which it will).

Simply put, Flagg’s a star, and offers Dallas one of the NBA’s best young building blocks to move forward with.

A new era is on the horizon for the Mavericks. It might’ve already started the second Flagg stepped on the court, though they’ve yet to make too many decisions with him in mind. They’ll soon have to, as they’re currently toeing the line between two timelines.

The team's lack of draft assets will make things tougher in the short-term, though the off-loading of a few veterans players should get things on track. As far as roster firesales go, opposing NBA decision-makers are likely salivating at the chance to trade for some of the Mavs' ancillary pieces.

Additionally, Flagg's going to make roster-building a breeze. He's tall and well-built, able to snap to either forward position, or initiate offense at 6-foot-9. He takes defense seriously and is good at it, meaning there's some grace afforded to new acquisitions. He can handle the scoring load, but will be able to defer and succeed too.

Flagg's Mavericks aren't yet great, as they sit at just 10-17 in the West. But in small moments through his rookie season, you can tell they will be eventually. And his malleability moving forward in a new era is going to be a large part of that.