Cooper Flagg’s NBA career hasn’t started the way many anticipated it would. When you carry the weight of being the No. 1 overall draft pick and titles like “generational talent” are attached to your name, there’s an expectation that you’re going to set the league on fire as soon as you suit up for your first game. That hasn’t happened in Dallas. Instead, it’s been a pretty ugly start with the Mavericks.
Through 10 games, the Mavericks are just 3-7 and have the worst offense in the league. They have a top-5 defense but can’t capitalize on the other end for it to matter. Flagg has spent most of the first 10 games playing out of position, as Jason Kidd’s experiment to have his 18-year-old rookie be the team’s point guard has gone about as bad as it possibly could go. He’s averaging 13.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and three assists, but his efficiency has cratered from what many saw from him at Duke. Flagg’s shooting just 40.3% from the field and 27% from 3-point range. A lot of that is to be expected from a rookie still feeling out the flow of a pro game, but some of it is because of Dallas’ poorly run offense, regardless of what role Flagg’s playing.
On 38 pick-and-roll possessions, Flagg’s generating just 0.658 points per possession, which ranks in the 20th percentile. He’s still figuring out how to make the best reads based on what the defense is giving him, which is completely normal for a kid who doesn’t turn 19 until just before Christmas. But having Flagg run point to begin with seems like a massive ask this early in his career, especially when the results have been this poor to start out. He’s never played point guard in his life, and while it may help him down the line, to throw him into the fire immediately instead of playing to his strengths seems like an ill-fated plan.
But even when Kidd made the adjustment to start D’Angelo Russell, whom they signed this summer to handle the point guard duties until Kyrie Irving returned, things haven’t gone much better.
Over the last three games with Russell in the starting lineup alongside Flagg, PJ Washington, Max Christie and Daniel Gafford, the Mavericks’ offensive rating is 78.4. For comparison, the 2002-03 Nuggets hold the record for the lowest offensive rating in NBA history at 92.2.
An obvious asterisk could be applied to that number, given Anthony Davis has missed the last five games with a calf strain. But it’s not as if Davis is a cure for the Mavericks’ current issue. They’ve actually performed better offensively when he’s on the bench, scoring 2.0 points more per 100 possessions. And thinking that Irving will be the superhero who can save Dallas’ season would be unrealistic for a 33-year-old guard working his way back from an ACL tear. And that’s assuming he’s able to return soon enough for it to matter.
Irving can mask a lot of issues for the Mavericks, giving them an elite playmaker who can create space and draw attention from the defense to make things easier for his teammates. But being the sole ball handler — just as Luka Doncic was for several seasons in Dallas — has not been a successful way to win games.
The issue isn’t just that the Mavericks don’t have a quality enough point guard on the roster to make everyone’s life easier. It’s that this roster is void of any quality shot creators, playmakers, shooters or simply anyone who can force the defense to second guess anything. Despite an abundance of forwards and centers, the Mavericks generate just 20.3 paint touches a game. They’re averaging 48.8 points in the paint, but are giving up 55.6 points inside per game. What was supposed to be a point of strength for the Mavericks this season has been a non-factor.
So many of Dallas’ possessions stall out on the perimeter because they don’t have anyone to penetrate the defense and get inside. Brandon Williams is the best at getting to the rim, and he’s only playing 16.5 minutes.
Dallas is taking the most mid-range shots since the year before they traded for Dončić on draft night in 2018. Right now it’s the only shot they can make, as they rank 30th in 3-point shooting and 26th in shots at the rim, per Cleaning the Glass.
Mavericks’ shot profile
|
Rim |
31.4% (17th) |
63.5% (26th) |
|
Mid-range |
34.4% (5th) |
44.3% (9th) |
| 3-pointers | 34.2% (25th) | 30.4% (30th) |
Nothing is coming easy offensively for the Mavericks. You have Washington averaging a career high in turnovers (2.8) because he’s being asked to create and score off the dribble, which isn’t his strong suit. Flagg is struggling to find a rhythm because he’s playing out of position. Klay Thompson‘s efficiency and production, two pillars of his Hall of Fame career, have completely fallen off a cliff. His shot selection has been questionable at times and completely off mark the rest of the time. He’s shooting a surprising 26.4% from 3-point range, far below his career average of 41.4%. Some regression was expected from one of the best shooters in NBA history, but not this bad.
This isn’t an easily fixable problem for the Mavericks; it’s an issue that only seems repairable through a trade (or several). Seeing what they can get for Anthony Davis is worth considering, though that would take Nico Harrison admitting any wrongdoing in the disastrous trade from February 2024. Davis could net the Mavericks some help in the backcourt, so could trading Daniel Gafford, who continues to draw interest around the league, mainly from the Lakers.
The irony of the situation is that the solution to this issue is currently averaging 37 points on the Lakers. The answer is a guy the Mavericks front office deemed wasn’t good enough to lead them to a championship. The even more ironic aspect of all this is that had the Mavericks got Austin Reaves in that Dončić trade, these problems also wouldn’t be as glaring.
