Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg give the Mavericks something most teams would love to have and very few can actually sort out: two players who can credibly run the offense.
The question isn’t whether Dallas has enough creation. It’s who gets the first crack at organizing it once the season starts.
Irving brings the longer track record, the cleaner resume and the kind of shot-making that can crack any defense. Before his ACL tear, he was putting up more than 24 points per game for Dallas while scoring efficiently from all three levels.
He also enters the year with fresh legs after sitting out an entire season.
Flagg, though, has made a strong push of his own. As a rookie, he averaged 21 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists while leading the team in four statistical categories.
He did that as a teenager, and he did it without another dependable creator beside him. That matters, especially for a Dallas team with a clear reason to lean into the player who could be around for the next decade instead of the one heading toward his mid-30s.
Still, the most realistic answer may be that the Mavericks never settle on just one primary engine. The job can shift from night to night, or even quarter to quarter, depending on matchups and rhythm.
Irving has spent his career taking over late, especially in fourth quarters. Flagg’s size gives him the chance to control longer stretches in the middle of games, where mismatches can open up.
Those roles do not have to clash.
The biggest unknown hanging over all of it is Irving himself. Nobody can say for sure how he’ll look after the injury.
He turns 35 in March, and 16 months away from the floor after major knee surgery is no small thing, even for a player as skilled as he is. If he comes back near his old level, the conversation stays open.
If he needs time to rediscover his timing or gets managed carefully early on, Flagg could end up handling the offense by default.
That wouldn’t be a bad outcome for Dallas. Flagg already showed he can carry a heavy load, and doing it again with more spacing around him could speed up his development. The key difference this season is that he wouldn’t be asked to do it alone.
And that’s the part Mavericks fans are probably circling: the possibility that the question eventually disappears. A healthy Irving paired with a rising Flagg would give Dallas two players who can bend defenses, create for others and take over games on their own. That kind of duo could be one of the league’s most fun to watch.
The first few weeks should tell the story. They’ll show how Dusty May sets the offense, who has the ball in closing moments and how the usage breaks down when both are on the floor.
In Other News...
Mark Cuban Revisited A Luka-Era Regret Mavericks Fans Still Feel
Mark Cuban has never been shy about revisiting the Mavericks missed chances, and in a recent reflection he added a couple more names to the list of roster calls he wishes had played out differently. He spoke about the pain of seeing Steve Nash, Jalen Brunson and pieces of the 2011 championship group leave town, but he also tied some of the more frustrating Luka Doncic-era decisions to the organizations push to get younger and reshape the roster around its new star.
Among the moves that still linger, the wings stand out. Dallas spent years trying to patch together starting-caliber help on the perimeter after moving on from veterans like Wesley Matthews and Harrison Barnes, and the team did not really stabilize that spot until P.J. Washington arrived. Barnes exit was especially jarring in the moment, underscoring how aggressively the Mavericks were willing to sacrifice established pieces for flexibility, even if the long-term payoff never quite arrived the way they hoped. [Read more 🡒]
Dirks Jalen Brunson Admission Will Hit Mavericks Fans Hard
Jalen Brunsons rise still has a Mavericks-flavored backstory, starting with his days as a backup guard in Dallas while Luka Doncic handled the spotlight. The former second-round pick has since built himself into one of the leagues more respected guards, and now the conversation around him includes praise from a familiar name in Dirk Nowitzki, who has watched Brunsons climb from a distance and seen how his game and leadership have translated in New York.
Nowitzki has made it clear he admires what Brunson has become, which only sharpens the regret some Mavericks fans already feel about how things played out. It is one thing to lose a useful rotation piece and another to watch that player grow into a centerpiece elsewhere, and Brunsons success has made his departure look bigger with time. What remains striking is how a former Dallas guard who once lived in Doncics shadow has become the kind of player the franchise keeps circling back to in hindsight. [Read more 🡒]
Naji Marshall Joins NBA Pushback Over Disrespectful T.J. McConnell Take
A stray podcast take about T.J. McConnell turned into a familiar NBA internet pile-on after Nasir Core suggested the veteran guard would be outmatched in a one-on-one game. The reaction was swift and pretty uniform from around the league, with current and former players pushing back on the idea and reinforcing a point that tends to get lost in these debates: NBA competition is already an elite standard, and McConnell has carved out a career by thriving in it.
Among the voices pushing back was Mavericks forward Naji Marshall, who joined Giannis Antetokounmpo and others in disputing Cores assessment. The broader argument is less about a hypothetical pickup matchup than it is about respect for what McConnell has done in the league, and the pushback showed how quickly players still bristle when a well-known pro is turned into easy content. [Read more 🡒]