MIAMI (AP) — Cooper Flagg left college after one year. His education, however, continues.
The No. 1 pick in this year's draft has been part of more losses with the Dallas Mavericks this season than he experienced in his last four years of basketball combined. Duke lost four times last season, Florida's Montverde Academy lost a total of three games in 2022-23 and 2023-24, and Maine's Nokomis Regional lost one in 2021-22.
Championship contending has been an annual event for Flagg. Duke went to the Final Four in his lone season. Montverde was considered the best high school team in the country in his final year there. Nokomis won a state title with Flagg leading the way.
The Mavericks are next-to-last in the Western Conference right now at 5-14. And after the latest of those losses in Miami on Monday night, Flagg was asked how he's handling it all emotionally.
“I'm just trying to keep my people close to me, my family, obviously," Flagg said. "But I think the other part, just being optimistic, it’s a long season. We’ve had a lot of guys step up, deal with a lot of injuries. And there’s been a lot of positive that we’ve been able to take from some of these games as well. So, I think that’s something, just being optimistic, knowing we have a lot of games going forward and just sticking with it and being positive.”
Flagg is averaging 15.9 points per game, second-best among rookies; his former Duke teammate Kon Knueppel is averaging 19.4 for Charlotte. He's played more minutes than anyone else in the rookie class entering Tuesday, and even in a loss Flagg more than impressed the Heat by how he wanted the ball in the final minutes with the outcome still undecided.
“He's not scared of the moment," Miami center Bam Adebayo said. “A lot of guys would move to the corner when there’s two minutes left in a close ball game ... he was going to get the ball. He's growing up faster than people think. By the end of the season, I feel like he’s going to be one of them ones that's hard to guard because he’s going through those moments now.”
Adebayo has seen the potential before. He was on the 2024 Olympic team, a squad that watched Flagg — then a 17-year-old on a select team made up of players brought to Las Vegas to practice with and against the Paris-bound national team — dominate a scrimmage against the team that would go on to win the gold medal in France.
“I think probably more than anything, I’ve always just been impressed with his competitive spirit, but also how competitively mature he is for his age," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s not even 19 yet. Is that correct? I mean, that’s crazy.”
Flagg shot 37% in his first six NBA games; he's up to 45% on the season now. He's reached double figures in scoring in all but one of his pro games to this point. And he's had some statistical success on a team that is missing Kyrie Irving (ACL recovery) and Anthony Davis (calf strain), plus dealt with the fallout after the firing of Nico Harrison — the general manager who traded Luka Doncic away.
The losses are not fun. There is a bit of a silver lining, Mavs coach Jason Kidd said.
“I think for himself and for the team, to go through this tough time of losing close games is only going to make us better as we go forward," Kidd said. "Especially for Cooper — because he’s getting to see a lot of different close games and how to handle different situations. So, this is good.”
In other words, Flagg is learning. College is over, but class is still very much in session.
Around The NBA analyzes the biggest topics in the NBA during the season.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
“A dazzling delight for all ages” Read moreRodger's & Hammerstein's Cinderella
Dirk van Ulden said:
Dirk van Ulden said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.