Cooper Flagg’s first NBA season was loud enough to trigger the kind of comparison that usually gets tossed around only when a player looks truly special: LeBron James. That conversation has already started, and it’s coming from people close to Flagg’s game.
Jason Kidd, his former coach, said during an interview in the Philippines a few weeks ago that Flagg is tracking in that direction.
"Well, I think he's on pace, when you talk about LeBron, and what he did as a young player," Kidd said. "Cooper's ability, he's one that loves to win, likes to work, is not afraid of the moment.
You saw at Duke, taking a game-winning shot and missing, he's not afraid of the moment. So, I would say he's on pace, that's his comp.
Now, can he stay healthy, like LeBron? And then, all greats are judged with championships...
That's the one stat that will stand out. Hopefully, Cooper can achieve that."
But even with that kind of praise, the LeBron comparison comes with a massive caveat. LeBron James has built one of the greatest careers in basketball history, and that’s not a standard anyone reaches overnight.
That’s why Flagg’s trainer, Matt MacKenzie, is taking a more measured approach.
"Cooper has a long way to go in terms of building the resume that LeBron has throughout his long career. But he definitely has a lot of those tools to be one of the greats," MacKenzie said to RG.org.
"He just needs to continue to keep working. He needs to continue to stay hungry every single day to improve his craft.
I think with the way he plays and his approach to the game of basketball, that checks all of the boxes to be one of the greats eventually. But obviously, he's only one year into his career now.
He's got a long way to go."
Even without the hype machine doing the heavy lifting, Flagg’s rookie year already gave people plenty to talk about. He joined Michael Jordan as the only rookie in the last 50+ years to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. He also had 50-point outbursts, recorded triple-doubles, and showed he was willing to take big shots when the game was on the line.
That kind of production is why the ceiling conversation keeps getting bigger. Maybe he won’t end up as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer or make 10 NBA Finals like LeBron James did. But the combination of talent and work ethic is obvious, and it has people watching closely for what comes next.
With the start of his second season just about a month away, the next step in Flagg’s rise is right around the corner.
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Still, the biggest question hanging over the team is less about the new faces than the ones who are no longer there and how all the pieces fit together once the games start counting. Dallas has added help in players such as Sergio De Larrea, Brandon Williams, Khris Middleton and Naji Marshall, but the real test of this overhaul will be whether the Mavericks can turn all that change into a clear identity before the season gets away from them. [Read more 🡒]
Cooper Flagg Gives The Mavs Hope But One Concern Won't Go Away
Cooper Flagg gives the Mavericks a real reason to believe the next chapter can be better than the last one. The Rookie of the Year arrived as the kind of young cornerstone Dallas has spent years trying to find, and he instantly changes the mood around a roster that still has other developing pieces and a veteran core that is no longer as easy to project as it once was.
Still, the broader picture remains murky enough that optimism comes with a warning label. Kyrie Irvings future is uncertain, and the front office does not have a lot of extra flexibility to reshape the roster quickly, which is why the long-term path to contention remains such a hard read even with Flagg in place. For Dallas, the hope is obvious. The concern is whether the team will be able to turn that hope into a real window soon enough. [Read more 🡒]
Kyrie And Cooper Flagg Give The Mavs A Huge New Question
Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg have spent a full season as teammates without actually sharing the floor, but that changes when the Mavericks open their next chapter in October. The offseason has at least given the two a chance to work together some, and Matt MacKenzie, who works with Flagg, sounded encouraged by what he has seen. He pointed to the way their games can fit, along with the mutual respect they already seem to have built.
For Dallas, though, the bigger question is not whether the talent is there. It is how the Mavericks balance Flaggs ability to create with Irvings long-standing comfort as the ball-dominant engine of an offense. The pairing gives the team a fascinating new ceiling, but it also leaves the coaching staff with a real job to do in sorting out touches, spacing and who gets to steer the action when the games start to matter. [Read more 🡒]