Mavericks' Cooper Flagg Ruled Out With Injury in Season Finale Against Bulls

It's the finale game of the disastrous 2025-26 regular season for the Dallas Mavericks, and it reached a fitting end on Sunday evening. The only thing left to play for was to push for Cooper Flagg to win Rookie of the Year, and the Mavericks broke out a lot of stops for it, with coaches and players wearing "Ain't No Pressure" shirts with a 32 background.

Flagg got off to a hot start, scoring 10 points in his first 10 minutes of action, but while fighting for an offensive rebound, he came down on the foot of a Chicago Bull, rolling his ankle. He would be ruled out soon after that, ending the final game of his rookie season with 10 points, 4 rebounds, and an assist.

Coop hurts his ankle pic.twitter.com/rpbGaojdFl
— MavsHighlights (@MavsHighlights) April 13, 2026

With this game, it brings Flagg's averages for his rookie season to 21.0 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 4.5 APG. It's still a wildly impressive rookie season, as he became the first rookie since Michael Jordan to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. Whether or not it will be good enough to take home the Rookie of the Year award as he fights for it against his former Duke teammate, Kon Knueppel, won't be known for a little while.

Flagg exceeded expectations in his first season, which was impressive for a first overall pick, and his ceiling genuinely has no limit. Once the three-point shot starts falling with more consistency and he's not being asked to carry the offense, he's going to an elite player.

Chicago Bulls Out-Tanking Mavericks

Despite Flagg's injury, the Mavericks were dominating the Chicago Bulls, going into halftime with an 80-58 lead. Tyler Smith had 17 points off the bench, while Klay Thompson had 12, and the Bulls had no interest in doing anything productive. Rob Dillingham was at least showing some signs of life with 17 points on 8/12 shooting in 14 minutes, but that was about it.

The other major outlier was Ryan Nembhard, who had 12 points to just one turnover in the first half. With Cooper Flagg's push for the Rookie of the Year officially over, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Mavs push the young guys like Smith, Moussa Cisse, and John Poulakidas to more minutes. They may even roll AJ Johnson out there for more minutes, as no one has been as effective a tanker as him since he came over in the Anthony Davis trade.

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