Charles Barkley Urges Mavericks to Replace Cooper Flagg From Starting Lineup

Opening night for the 2025-26 NBA season has come and gone, with millions of eyes fixated on the top overall pick of the 2025 NBA draft, Cooper Flagg. Unfortunately, the projected Rookie of the Year didn’t live up to expectations. The Dallas Mavericks attempted to play Flagg at point guard on his debut, which didn’t go as planned. And now, NBA legend Charles Barkley is demanding a change.

Typically, the Mavericks wouldn’t have thrown Flagg into the fire of playing lead guard if they were completely healthy. Kyrie Irving would’ve filled that role, but he is currently recovering from an ACL injury. To be fair to Flagg, he did show glimpses that he could handle the responsibility, but looked awfully raw for most of the game.

In 32 minutes, Flagg put up a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. However, he struggled  with shooting, going 4-13 from the field, while turning the ball over three times. It didn’t help that Flagg had a team-worst minus-29 on the court.

Although he assumed point guard delegations, Flagg also didn’t record a single assist. Clearly unimpressed by the performance, Hall-of-Fame forward Charles Barkley let his feelings known.

“They got [Flagg] trying to initiate the offense, man, start D’Angelo Russell until Kyrie comes back,” Barkley said on Inside the NBA. 

When the Mavericks signed D’Angelo Russell in free agency, many believed he would be Irving’s temporary replacement. Instead, he only played 15 minutes in Dallas’ season opener.

Besides, Barkley isn’t calling for this switch because he doesn’t think Flagg can can’t handle the NBA. Rather, he believes the Duke graduate would thrive if the Mavs actually gave him the opportunity to succeed. “They didn’t even put Cooper Flagg in a position to be successful,” Barkley proclaimed. And he isn’t the only one who believes that the Mavs basically set him up for failure.

Barkley’s co-host, Kenny Smith, who played point guard for a decade in the NBA, winning two championships, understands the responsibilities that come with facilitating the offense.

“I’d rather have him be on the other end, where he’s the recipient of finishing the basketball. Cutting to the basketball and offensive rebounding. I’d rather someone passing to him, instead 10 eyes are on him,” Smith said.

Flagg is still a great prospect for the future. His versatility all but assures that. Although he isn’t a guard, he can play like one in certain stretches.

But when he is put into the role of one, it eliminates his ability to crash the glass or play the dunker spot, which are other key aspects of his game.

Nevertheless, it is extremely hard for a rookie to succeed as a point guard, considering it is one of the hardest positions in the NBA. Flagg may very well fit the role like Giannis Antetokounmpo did when he played for Jason Kidd. But at the moment, the Mavericks will need to find the perfect balance for Flagg, or else his rookie season may be a bit longer than we expected.