Cooper Flagg makes impression upon Mavericks in first preseason game

Cooper Flagg made his unofficial NBA debut on Monday night, as the Dallas Mavericks started the 2025-26 preseason with a 106-89 win over the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder, who sat nearly every major contributor. Flagg was impressive in his 14 minutes, putting up 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and a nice weakside block.

After the game Jason Kidd sanf Flagg's praises. "He was great. Cooper did an incredible job for us. He's been doing this for us since training camp started in Vancouver. You got to see the defensive side. You got to see the playmaking. And then the scoring ability. He was really, really good tonight."

Jason Kidd on Cooper Flagg's preseason debut:

"He was great. Cooper did an incredible job for us. He's been doing this for us since training camp started in Vancouver. You got to see the defensive side. You got to see the playmaking. And then the scoring ability. He was really,…
— Mike Curtis (@MikeACurtis2) October 7, 2025

Although he was known for his defensive impact in college, and those were on full display on Monday night, the playmaking was impressive for such a young player. His three assists don't paint the whole picture, as he was swinging the ball around the perimeter with efficiency, finding backdoor cutters, and generating open shots for others. It was exactly what you wanted to see out of Flagg in his first preseason game.

Outside of his weakside block, his most impressive play of the evening was when he took Cason Wallace off the dribble from full-court pressure and was able to make a pass over him to Dwight Powell for an easy dunk. It's impressive the amount of attention that he's already drawing from opposing teams, as this happened in the Summer League, as well.

Point Flagg gets picked up full court against Cason Wallace and drops a dime 👀 pic.twitter.com/BHGZSHre55
— NBA University (@NBA_University) October 7, 2025

Other Impressions From First Preseason Game

It's hard to draw too many conclusions from one preseason game where the opponent sat nearly every meaningful player, but a few players stood out. Moussa Cisse. who is currently on an Exhibit-9 contract, had a few impressive blocks once he checked into the game. The team does have an open two-way spot, so that's open for audition.

D'Angelo Russell didn't have many opportunities to score, but he did have five assists, including a nice lob in transition to Anthony Davis. The transition game could be fun this year, even if the half-court offense looked rough at times in this games.

P.J. Washington was a game-high +18 in this game, finishing with a team-high 14 points on 4/9 shooting, but he rebounded well in traffic as well. It's weird for him to be coming off the bench now considering he was a good starter on an NBA Finals team two years ago, but that's the way this cookie crumbled.

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