ESPN's Brian Windhorst Predicts LeBron-Like Leap For Mavs' Cooper Flagg

The Dallas Mavericks have a special talent on their hands after lucking into Cooper Flagg in the 2025 NBA Draft. Winning that lottery on a 1.8% chance single-handedly could keep them from falling into mediocrity and irrelevance for the next decade, like the 1990s.

Flagg's ceiling really looks limitless. After struggling a little early in his rookie season as Jason Kidd ran him at point guard, he grew more and more comfortable as the season went on. He'd win Rookie of the Year while leading the Mavericks in points, rebounds, assists, and steals.

That has everyone really excited to see what Flagg has in store for his second season. He won't turn 20 years old until December, but could still be one of the best players in the NBA.

ESPN has released its list of the top 100 NBA players for the 2026-27 season, and Cooper Flagg ranked 23rd. One of their analysts, Brian Windhorst, finds that to be way too low.

"...Throughout all last season, Cooper Flagg kept giving me flashbacks to LeBron James as a rookie. By LeBron's second season, he was a top-five player, and I feel strongly that this is Flagg's destiny too. We'll just have to wait and see how fast that prophecy is fulfilled," Windhorst wrote.

This isn't the first time that Flagg has been compared to LeBron James, as his former coach, Jason Kidd, has said a few times that Flagg can reach that level.

Apr 29, 2026; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Maverick Cooper Flagg holds the 2025-26 NBA Rookie of the Year trophy as he stands with head coach Jason Kidd, who was NBA Co-Rookie of the Year for the 1994-95 season during a press conference at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Cooper Flagg Could Be on Historic Pace

If Flagg were to become a top-five player in his second season, that's looking at an All-NBA First Team selection, an All-Star invite, and likely a much more competitive Mavericks team.

Since 2000, there has only been one player in their second year to make the All-NBA First Team, and that was Luka Doncic.

LeBron James was All-NBA Second Team in his second season, so if we expand the filter a little bit, Blake Griffin (a technicality, as this was his third season in the NBA, but he missed his entire first season with an injury), Dwyane Wade, and Joel Embiid (another technicality, it was really his fourth season in the NBA, but he didn't play at all in the first two) are the only players since 2000 to make All-NBA Second Team in their second season.

Joining that group would put Flagg on a historic pace for the rest of his career.

Flagg really just wants to win games, so if he has the Mavericks on the brink of making the playoffs, that would already be a massive success for him in his young career.

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