Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg has a left midfoot sprain that will sideline him through All-Star Weekend, the team announced Wednesday. He is expected to be available immediately after the break, a team source told ESPN. An MRI on Wednesday revealed the sprain, which occurred during Dallas' game at Phoenix on Tuesday, according to the team.
Flagg wasn't traded from the Mavericks, but Anthony Davis was. And that deal signaled the official end of one era and the start of the future. And that future, in Dallas, is built entirely around Flagg. In the last two weeks, Flagg has exploded as the no-question featured player with averages of 32.0 PPG, 7.7 RPG and 4.0 APG in his last six outings.
Dallas coach Jason Kidd ripped the referees for not calling a foul on Flagg's drive to the basket late in the game. "I saw a foul," Kidd said. "[Officials] Sean [Wright], Simone [Jelks] and Jason [Goldenberg] were awful tonight. The referees were unacceptable. It's a foul, and he needs to be at the free throw line. Now, does he make both? That's up to the player, but the referees did not do their job. They were terrible."
Flagg had 42 points topping the previous mark of 37 set by LeBron James on Dec. 13, 2003 in a 140-133 loss to the Utah Jazz on Monday night. Obviously we didn't win. So it's tough for me to want to be happy, or any of that, but obviously it's a success, said Flagg, who had a bag of ice on his ankle after rolling it at the end of regulation.
Cooper Flagg looked every bit like the generational talent he was billed as, meanwhile Collin-Murray Boyles was uncharacteristically passive in his debut and struggled to get his usually magnetic mitts on the ball, finishing with zero points. Alternatively Flagg ripped transition slams and step-back 3s on his way to an efficient 22 points, helping the Mavericks down the Raptors 139-129, dropping them to 1-2 on the season.
The post-Luka Doncic era is off to a rocky start for the Mavericks. After a 125-92 home blow-out to the San Antonio Spurs, followed by a 117-107 loss to the Washington Wizards - both teams that missed last year's play-in - the questions are mounting. They're also without Kyrie Irving, which isn't an excuse when you're being overpowered by teams in similar spots last season. Interestingly, Anthony Davis is doing everything: he leads Dallas in points, rebounds, steals and blocks,
"I've been talking to Cooper Flagg a lot the last couple of weeks, and he's already trying to shape up how he's going to fit into that team by playing the NBA2K26 game with him, integrated with Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis," Singh told Alder Almo of Heavy Sports. "He might not get to play with Kyrie for a minute, so it's kind of cool that he gets to simulate that, see how the off-the-ball movement is."
Mike Krzyzewski stated, '[Grant Hill] is the best player to ever play at Duke,' and '[Christian Laettner] is the most accomplished.' He also praised Cooper Flagg as 'definitely the best freshman that has ever played.'
