A year after the Mavericks moved on from Nico Harrison, the mood in Dallas looks a whole lot different - and Cooper Flagg is feeling it.
The Mavericks are off to a 7-4 start, and that record has come with something that was missing around this time last season: a lighter, looser vibe inside the organization. Flagg said it plainly when he described the way this group is operating now: "We're playing with so much more joy and so much more fun out there... instead of feeling like [it's] a battle."
That line lands because of what Dallas looked like a year ago. At this point in the schedule last season, the Mavericks were 3-8, the fan base was chanting "Fire Nico," and Flagg was still finding his footing in the league. He was averaging 15.0 points and shooting 42.4 percent from the floor.
Now the picture is very different. Dallas is 7-4, the outside noise has eased up, and Mavericks basketball has given the fan base something to get excited about again. Flagg has been at the center of it, too, opening the season with 25.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game while shooting 50.0 percent from the field.
That kind of start has made the Mavericks look like a sleeper playoff team, while Flagg is building a case for an All-Star nod and putting himself in the conversation as a legitimate All-NBA candidate in just his second professional season.
None of this happened in a vacuum. Harrison’s firing a year ago triggered the reset that changed the direction of the franchise. Since then, Dallas has traded Anthony Davis - the same player it got in the widely criticized Luka Doncic deal - moved on from Jason Kidd, brought in Masai Ujiri and Mike Schmitz to run basketball operations, and hired former Michigan head coach Dusty May.
Harrison’s run left the franchise in turmoil, but his exit opened the door to a different kind of Mavericks team. Dallas is still nowhere near the level it reached in the NBA Finals with Doncic leading the way, but the roster now has Flagg, a new coach, a revamped front office and a fan base that has rediscovered its energy.
There are still reasons to be cautious. The 7-4 start could turn out to be a flash in the pan, and Dallas is the only team to lose to the bottom-dwelling Sacramento Kings. The roster also isn’t finished.
Even so, the early signs are hard to ignore. The Mavericks have a new identity, and Flagg’s comments may be the clearest proof yet that the change is real. The joy is back, and so is the buzz around the team.
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