Cooper Flagg showed up to Mavericks training camp two inches taller, a few pounds heavier, and carrying a season’s worth of proof that the hype was real. At 19, he already belongs in a conversation that begins and ends with Michael Jordan.
The numbers from his rookie year: 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game across 70 games. He became the second player since 1973-74 — after Jordan — to lead his team in all four categories as a rookie. He dropped 51 points against the Orlando Magic, the youngest player in NBA history to hit a 50-point game. Four games above 40 points, a feat no rookie had matched since Allen Iverson in 1996-97.
What Dusty May sees
New head coach Dusty May — hired after Michigan’s 2026 NCAA title run — did not arrive with modest expectations. “With Coop, it’s just continuing to add to his game,” May told reporters at the American Airlines Center on September 25. “The sky’s the limit.” On what that ceiling actually looks like: “He could get 10 assists, 15 assists…10 or 15 rebounds, and then obviously we all know he can score.”
May’s up-tempo system built around size and transition pace fits Flagg well. Dallas ranked last in pace last season at 26-56. That era is over.
Kyrie’s return changes the math
Kyrie Irving, 34, hasn’t played in 19 months — a knee injury ended his 2025-26 entirely. At media day he showed up with no restrictions. “My injury was probably the best thing that happened to me,” he said. On sharing the court with Flagg: “He just makes it easy to play with him.”
A healthy Kyrie next to a sophomore Flagg under a coach who refuses to set limits — that’s enough to reframe what Dallas could look like when the season tips off October 21 at Houston. Team president Masai Ujiri kept it simple: “Bringing joy back to basketball in this city.” After 26 wins last year, even the modest version of that feels within reach.
