When Nico Harrison traded Luka Doncic to the LA Lakers last season, the Dallas Mavericks’ fans became a worried lot, till their draft lottery and the promise of Cooper Flagg materialized. And before the start of the 2025-26 season, if you had told the Mavs fans that their team would be reeling at the bottom of the table in the West a month into the campaign, they would have called you crazy. Well…
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… That’s precisely what has transpired. And Dallas’ newest recruit, Flagg, is smack dab in the middle of the storm. When Flagg was taken as the No.1 draft pick, people had compared him to greats of the game, including LeBron James and Larry Bird.
Former NBA champion Kendrick Perkins had even stated that, barring James’ athleticism, Flagg had it all, including an intelligent head on his shoulders. It was also hoped that the Mavs would allow him a learning curve. Evidently, Harrison didn’t plan on it.
A month into the season, injuries have added another spanner into the team system. Now Flagg has been pushed rather unceremoniously to the critics, who were already oversold on the idea of him being a baby Clark Kent just waiting to suit up.
NBA insider Marc Stein reminded fans that getting the right to draft Flagg was the equivalent of winning the lottery for the Mavs. Sure, the fans were devastated by Doncic leaving, but having Flagg was supposed to be a sign of the great things to come.
“It’s a great situation for Cooper Flagg. He’s not going to face the immediate pressure of a No. 1 overall pick going to a terrible team and trying to lift that terrible team. Cooper Flagg will be surrounded by veterans. He’ll be able to ease into the NBA. None of that happened,” Stein exclaimed.
“Cooper Flagg has been greeted by nothing but negativity and a very gloomy cloud that is hanging over this franchise. And that is another element of this story that’s worrisome and troublesome,” Stein practically bellowed, asserting that the situation is evident to everyone in the league.
Adam Mares of the All NBA Podcast, meanwhile, suggested that the Mavs needed a cleanse of some sort, whether it was through some stroke of luck or through a directional change within the organization. He recommended that the front desk try it because all their problems were just compounding, and everyone was unhappy with the situation.
Stein, however, remained cynical. He claimed that even if changes are made, they will likely be short-term. And even if they help change the morale of the locker room, Stein explained that the Mavs are just really short on playmaking and shotmaking since Kyrie Irving is sidelined indefinitely.
“There is so much work to do to get this roster in a good place. And how attractive is this job to potential successors?” Stein asked, referring to the call for the sacking of GM Harrison.
People might compare it to the situation with the Denver Nuggets last season, where they fired the coach right before the playoffs. But Stein explained that the Nuggets had a great team, including Nikola Jokic, which allowed them to push the OKC to game 7 during their playoff series. But the Mavs, without Irving and with an injured Anthony Davis, simply don’t have enough gas to drive that far.
Then there is this handicap that the Mavs do not have the option for a first-round pick till 2031. “Remember, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030. The Mavericks surrendered control of their first in all of those years to make moves to build around Luka Doncic,” reminded Stein.
“And now Doncic is not here and all those picks are out of the door, either outright or through swaps,” Stein noted, shaking his head, saying, “you can’t make this stuff up as they say,” he added.
Harrison better hope Flagg can conjure some magic in the upcoming games. But then, excepting that has precisely been the problem for the Mavs.
