Cooper Flagg’s night ended early Friday after a hard foul sparked a brief scuffle in the Mavericks’ game against the Pacers.
The play came during a dominant first half for Dallas, which had flipped the script completely from Wednesday’s loss to the Houston Rockets. Instead of spending the night chasing a huge deficit, the Mavericks went into halftime up 34 on Indiana. They were shooting 10/19 from three, had committed just 6 turnovers to the Pacers’ 13, and had piled up 8 steals.
One of those steals led to a fastbreak chance for Flagg, but Aaron Nesmith tracked him down from behind and delivered a hard foul that sent Flagg crashing to the floor and landing hard on his left shoulder.
That’s when things got heated. Naji Marshall and P.J.
Washington came sprinting in from halfcourt to confront Nesmith, and Marshall shoved him as the situation escalated. The foul on Nesmith was upgraded to a Flagrant Foul Penalty 1, and both Nesmith and Marshall were hit with technical fouls.
Flagg stayed down briefly, then shot his free throws before heading to the locker room with about 30 seconds left before halftime. He wasn’t available to start the second half, though he did not appear to be treating it like something especially severe in the moment.
The Mavericks have made a point of standing up for their own, and Marshall has filled that role since arriving in Dallas. Washington was right there with him on this sequence, and the two have been in the middle of this kind of reaction before. During the 2024-25 season, Marshall got into a notable scuffle with the Phoenix Suns after punching Jusuf Nurkic following a hard foul on Daniel Gafford.
Flagg’s status is the big concern. Before exiting, he had put together a huge first half with 14 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals.
UPDATE 8:57 P.M. EST: The Mavericks ruled Cooper Flagg out for the game with left shoulder soreness, offering no further detail.
Cooper Flagg (left shoulder soreness) will not return to tonight's game against the Indiana Pacers.
Dallas was still chasing its first win of the season.
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Cooper Flagg Injury Scare Has Mavericks Fans Holding Their Breath
Cooper Flagg gave the Mavericks an uneasy moment against the Indiana Pacers when he went down after a hard foul that was ruled a Flagrant 1, landing awkwardly on his left shoulder in the process. Dallas quickly labeled the injury as left shoulder soreness, which at least pointed away from immediate worst-case concern, but it still left the rookie's status in limbo for the rest of the night.
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For the Pacers, the bigger problem was how quickly the game slipped away. Their offense never settled in, and the combination of turnovers and missed perimeter looks put them behind the pace early, making it tough to build any kind of response against a Mavericks team that was ready to make a first-impression statement on the road. [Read more 🡒]