Cooper Flagg – ‘Blessing’ not having to be Mavericks’ centerpiece

DALLAS — Cooper Flagg called it a “blessing” to be the rare No. 1 overall pick who isn’t the centerpiece of a rebuilding franchise, landing instead on a Dallas Mavericks roster loaded with veterans, including a few future Hall of Famers.

“A lot of people in this position or this situation aren’t granted this opportunity, so I just feel really blessed and grateful for the situation I’ve been given,” Flagg said Friday during his introductory press conference at the Mavericks’ practice facility. “I’m just looking forward to being a sponge. Just getting down here, I’m excited to just learn, soak it all in and learn from the guys that are older and have been through it all before.

“Those guys have so much knowledge. They’ve been through so much, and they have so much experience that it’s just going to be an incredible opportunity for me to learn and grow under them.”

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The 18-year-old Flagg’s new teammates include a trio that has combined for 24 All-Star appearances and six NBA championships in Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson.

Dallas landed in the draft lottery after finishing 39-43 and getting eliminated in the Western Conference’s final play-in game. The Mavs got extraordinarily lucking, winning the No. 1 overall pick despite only 1.8% odds. As a result, after leading Duke to a Final Four appearance in his lone college season, Flagg will begin his NBA career on a team that has aspirations to contend immediately, although Irvin will likely miss the first half of the season while recovering from a torn ACL.

“We’re in win-now mode, and so he adds to that, but he’s also the future of the franchise,” Mavs general manager Nico Harrison said.

The 6-foot-8, 220-pound Flagg is considered one of the most versatile prospects in recent memory, having led Duke in scoring (19.2 points per game), rebounding (7.5), assists (4.2), steals (1.4) and blocks (1.4) en route to winning multiple national player of the year honors. His ability to impact the game in such a wide variety of ways provides coach Jason Kidd a lot of lineup flexibility.

“Looking at the roster, we can play a really good brand of positionless basketball with a lot of guys that can do a lot of different things,” Flagg said. “So I think that would be one of the biggest strengths. Just trying to play to that and just doing whatever I can to help the team win.”

Kidd described Flagg as “a basketball player” and a “winner,” first and foremost. But Kidd does have one particular position in mind for Flagg to start: point guard, at least for the Las Vegas Summer League that begins on July 10 with the Mavs facing the Los Angeles Lakers in the opener.

As the Milwaukee Bucks’ coach, Kidd took a similar approach with Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was 19 years old and entering his second season at the time. That fueled Antetokounmpo’s ascension into a perennial All-Star and two-time MVP.

“I want to make him uncomfortable and see how he reacts [to] being able to run the show, being able to play the two, play the three,” Kidd said of Flagg. “He’s comfortable playing that, but we want to push, and I think he’s going to respond in a positive way. It’s all right to fail, it’s all right to turn the ball over. We’ve talked about that. Just understanding the guys that I’ve been around that have been young — from Giannis, giving him the ball and he failed, but he wanted to come back and have the ball.

“So I’m excited about giving [Flagg] the ball against the Lakers and see what happens. Let’s get it started right off the bat. But I think just his poise — he’s going to be successful for a long time.”

Flagg said he felt like creating and playmaking were the facets of the game in which he progressed the most during his season at Duke, which went 35-4.

“I think just getting comfortable with the ball in my hands,” Flagg said. “Coach [Jon Scheyer] really trusted me with that right away, and I had to go through some mistakes, some trials, some tribulations and just figure it out. But Coach Scheyer never went away from me, never stopped trusting me, and I think that that’s kind of what helped to just really give me comfortable throughout the year and get really efficient.”

Flagg’s arrival in Dallas has reinvigorated a Mavs fan base that was outraged and devastated by the February trade of five-time first-team All-NBA selection Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Doncic had taken the metaphorical torch from Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki as the face of the franchise. That responsibility now belongs to Flagg, although it is not his primary focus.

“I’m coming in just trying to learn and trying to get better every single day,” Flagg said. “If I can do that to the best of my ability, I think expectations and pressures that other people will put on me and our team, that will kind of work itself out. So I’m just trying to come in and be the best that I can be and just win at the highest level.”