Cooper Flagg Exits Early After Hard Foul Leads to Scuffle in Mavericks-Pacers

The Dallas Mavericks took on the Indiana Pacers on Friday night, the second game of the season for both teams.

It was a tale of two games for the Mavericks, who were down 32 at halftime on Wednesday against the Houston Rockets, but found themselves up by 34 at halftime of this game.

Everything was rolling for the Mavs. At the break, they were 10/19 from three, had 6 turnovers to the Pacers' 13, and had 8 steals.

One of those steals led to an open fastbreak for Cooper Flagg, but a hard foul from behind by Pacers wing Aaron Nesmith sent Flagg to the ground, landing hard on his left shoulder.

As Flagg was lying on the ground, Naji Marshall and P.J. Washington ran up from halfcourt and confronted Nesmith, with Marshall shoving him. The foul was upgraded to a Flagrant Foul Penalty 1, while both Nesmith and Marshall were assessed a technical foul.

Here are two replays of the play, provided by MavsHighlights on X/Twitter.

COOP FOULED and MAVS HAVE HIS BACK!!! pic.twitter.com/xgUBP7Lpm0
— MavsHighlights (@MavsHighlights) October 24, 2026

Naji and PJ in the middle of it INSTANTLY pic.twitter.com/Z36ebeLlVx
— MavsHighlights (@MavsHighlights) October 24, 2026

Flagg would shoot the free throws before exiting the game and going to the locker room with about 30 seconds before halftime.

While it's concerning that he left the game early, he wasn't acting like it was too serious. He was not available for the start of the second half, though.

Naji Marshall Being Naji Marshall

Every team likes to have an enforcer for their stars, and Naji Marshall has been that ever since he signed with Dallas.

He and P.J. Washington had a pretty notable scuffle with the Phoenix Suns in the 2024-25 season, where Marshall punched Jusuf Nurkic after a hard foul on Daniel Gafford.

Marshall and Washington are never going to let anything fly and will protect their teammates above all else.

It's also a sign of a good culture that guys want to stand up for their teammates like. While it was an unneccesary foul by Aaron Nesmith, we've certainly seen worse in the past (Andrew Bynum's cheap shot on JJ Barea in the 2011 playoffs comes to mind).

Flagg's injury is the main storyline here, as he was having a tremendous game with 14 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals before he left. If there's an update on his injury before the end of the game, this story will be updated.

In the meantime, the Mavericks are looking to secure their first win of the season.

UPDATE 8:57 P.M. EST: The Mavericks have ruled Cooper Flagg out for the game with left shoulder soreness, but wouldn't provide more than that.

Cooper Flagg (left shoulder soreness) will not return to tonight's game against the Indiana Pacers.
— Mavs PR (@MavsPR) October 24, 2026

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