LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JULY 10: Cooper Flagg #32 of the Dallas Mavericks drives against DaJuan Gordon … More
As Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd conducted a halftime interview with ESPN’s Malika Andrews Thursday night, he looked around the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. A large crowd had gathered to watch Mavericks rookie and overall No. 1 draft pick Cooper Flagg play in his first NBA game, a Summer League contest against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Almost all of the top players on both teams weren’t in uniform, as the Summer League is filled with some high-profile rookies and many more players just looking to get a contract. Still, it was a scene that Kidd wasn’t accustomed to during his Hall of Fame playing career.
“This is incredible,” Kidd said. “I think my Summer League games, they were for free.”
That wasn’t the case on Thursday, as tickets sold for hundreds of dollars, with people eager to see Flagg’s debut. In his first competitive game since losing in the NCAA tournament’s Final Four in early April, the former Duke star struggled on the offensive end. Flagg scored 10 points on 5-of-21 shooting, all in the first half. The 6-foot-9 forward was held scoreless in the second half and missed each of his six field goals, including an airball pull-up jumper with 19.1 seconds remaining.
“Not up to my standard,” Flagg told ESPN’s Katie George in a postgame interview after his team’s 87-85 victory. “But I’m going to regroup. I’m going to be all right. It’s a new feeling, new environment, new teammates.”
Indeed, ESPN color analyst Tim Legler, a former 10-year NBA veteran, noted during the telecast that Flagg’s long layoff since his college career ended likely contributed to the struggles, as did not being accustomed to his teammates or the coaching staff. Mavericks assistant Josh Broghamer is serving as the Summer League head coach, while Kidd isn’t on the bench.
“There’s no real rhythm and flow because they haven’t practiced together except for a few days,” Legler said. “Everything he’s trying to do right now is creating one-on-one off the dribble. Number one, it’s exhausting. And two, it’s very difficult to be efficient that way because there’s nothing really that’s happening with action that creates the ability to catch the ball with some space to operate.”
Still, Legler praised other parts of Flagg’s game, including having just one turnover.
“Overall, a rough shooting night, but you’ve seen all the different boxes that he checks – his size and ball handling ability, athleticism,” Legler said. “That combination is going to lead to a lot of good things happening when he’s on the floor. He just has really struggled with his mid-range contested shots and then anything deep, as well. But you’ve seen all of the things that he does on display with the exception that he just hasn’t finished it off by making shots at the rate he typically is used to.”
Despite the poor shooting night, Flagg remains one of the most hyped players to enter the NBA in the past few decades. Flagg, who doesn’t turn 19 until December, is the second-youngest player (behind LeBron James) to be the No. 1 pick in the draft. And he is coming off a sensational freshman season at Duke when he was the consensus national player of the year after averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game.
Flagg and the Mavericks return to action on Saturday when they face the San Antonio Spurs and guard Dylan Harper, the No. 2 pick in last month’s draft, in what could the start of a longtime rivalry between the rookies on Texas teams. Another big crowd will be watching Flagg, as usual, as he becomes more accustomed to the NBA game and takes the next steps in what he hopes will be a long and successful career.
