Cooper Flagg is being called upon to cover for D'Angelo Russell's play-making deficiencies on the Dallas Mavericks this coming season.
Former Duke Blue Devils basketball star Cooper Flagg is joining a Dallas Mavericks team that will be going through somewhat of a transitional phase during his rookie season.
Without a healthy Kyrie Irving, Mavs head coach Jason Kidd will have to get creative with the team’s facilitation. Flagg, who averaged 4.2 assists in 30.7 minutes per game, is one of several non-point guards being asked to make up the difference.
The Athletic’s Law Murray believes Kidd needs to put Flagg on the same timeline he put Giannis Antetokounmpo on when he coached the Milwaukee Bucks to cover for a “legitimately awful” D’Angelo Russell, who signed with the team on a two-year, $11.7 million deal this offseason.
“Jason Kidd, when he got to go to Milwaukee and get the Bucks job, he put the ball in Giannis’ hands and accelerated his [potential]. They’re gonna have to [do the same to Cooper Flagg], because you can’t ask D’Angelo Russell [to be primary ball handler]. D’Angelo was legitimately awful last year,” Murray said.
Russell’s stats fell off a cliff in 2024-25 after being dealt by the Los Angeles Lakers to the Brooklyn Nets. His three-point conversion rate fell below 30%, while his overall shooting percentage dipped below 40%. Worse yet, he had 5.1 assists per game to 1.9 turnovers, looking nothing like a starting quality point guard.
Russell is not a placeholder for everything Irving brings. If anything, the Mavericks rolled the dice on his shooting making a return, but hedged against it not by inking him to bi-annual exception money.
Alex Caruso sees Kyrie Irving as Mavs’ key piece
When I spoke to Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso at the 2025 American Century Championship last month, Irving’s health was stressed as the key determining factor of Dallas’s identity.
“We got to see how they're gonna be. Kyrie’s still hurt. He might be out the whole year. He might come back late. A lot of that depends on him,” Caruso told me.
Even with Flagg arriving after a Final Four run in Durham and Anthony Davis entering his first full season with the team, one of the most respected locker room presences in the NBA sees Irving as Dallas’s missing piece.
Category: General Sports
