Prior to Copper Flagg’s preseason debut with the Mavericks on Monday night, NBA reporter Marc Spears went on ESPN and questioned why the hype around Flagg, the 2025 No. 1 overall pick, hasn’t been bigger.
“Where is the Cooper Flagg train?” Spears said. “I don’t get it. NBA, what are you doing? Why aren’t you promoting this guy? Get on the train. This dude is gonna be a star. … Nobody’s talking about this guy, and they’re making a mistake.”
I don’t necessarily agree with Spears. From late July through October is the NBA’s dead zone. Nobody is really getting talked about. His Summer League games were appointment television. As soon as Flagg starts playing regular season games, he’s going to be getting plenty of air time.
Especially after the show he put on in his first preseason game.
In 14 minutes, all in the first half, Flagg stuffed the stat sheet to the tune of 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting, six rebounds, three assists and a block. He sunk two of his three 3-pointers and didn’t commit a single turnover despite operating, essentially, as Dallas’ point guard.
Flagg was barely on the court for a minute before he recorded his first highlight, flying in for a weak-side block to ignite a Dallas fast break, which Anthony Davis finished with an alley-oop slam (note Flagg running his lane hard after the block to keep the defense from being able to commit to cutting off Davis on the other side).
Flagg’s defense is going to be elite in short order, if not immediately. He’s tremendous moving his feet and as a shot blocker. He can guard, more or less, across the positional spectrum. His instincts are unteachable. But we knew that coming in. That’s no surprise. He could possibly be a Draymond-Green level defender.
What I want to get back to is the point guard stuff. Flagg is listed at 6-foot-8 but plays much bigger than that, and it already looks like you can legit run an NBA offense through him with his ability to handle the ball, make advanced reads and passes, and score from all three levels.
The dude is 18 years old, and look at the ease with which he handles full-court pressure from Cason Wallace (a tough on-ball defender) as he maneuvers his way into post position, draws the help, and casually dumps a pass to Dwight Powell like he’s done it a thousand times at this level.
Here he is again handling the pressure of Wallace, and then, when a second defender comes, when a lot of guys would get ahead of themselves in sort of an in-between/arrhythmic spot, Flagg calmly hits the brakes and allows the opening to develop — which in this case leads to a back-cut layup for P.J. Washington.
Here he is whipping the ball around before attacking a closeout, again drawing the defense up, and shoveling to Dereck Lively for the finish.
These are all high-level reads and plays for any player, let alone a teenager playing in his first NBA game. But it wasn’t as if Flagg was only throwing highlight dimes. He dissected the defense in exactly the right way all night. Once he zipped a pass to a middle flasher to collapse OKC’s zone defense, which immediately led to a swing 3 from Klay Thompson in the corner. He was in total control. Seeing everything. Nothing moving too fast.
If the passing wasn’t enough, Flagg also showed off his ability to punish you as a pull-up shooter, which is such a necessary skill if you’re going to be a true threat as a pick-and-roll pilot. Here he gets into the ball screen, coaxes a switch to ge the matchup in his favor, and rises up over the smaller defender.
Here he does the same thing on the opposite wing, making Jaylin Williams pay for dropping back in coverage for fear of Davis rolling to the paint.
These are the types of big-big actions Dallas can run with Flagg’s ability to handle the ball and make quick and advanced reads. It’s going to be a weapon from day one, especially if Flagg is able to consistently knock down 3s, which would completely unlock his own game and Dallas’ entire offense.
So yeah, everyone knows this was just 14 minutes of one preseason game and we’re not supposed to throw a party and all that. But listen, what Flagg did on Monday was pretty eye opening. If Spears is right and the NBA doesn’t yet know what it has in Flagg as a future face-of-the-league guy, it won’t be long before that changes.
