No 1 draft pick's positivity shows no sign of flagging, despite Mavs' dire start

MIAMI — Cooper Flagg left college after a year. His education, however, continues.

The No 1 pick in this year's NBA draft has been a 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, however, 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 is just being optimistic, it's a long season. We've had a lot of guys step up, and some deal with a lot of injuries. There's been a lot of positives 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. As of Tuesday, Flagg had played more minutes than anyone else in the rookie class, and even in a loss he'd 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 percent in his first six NBA games; he's up to 45 percent 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, but 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.

Agencies Via Xinhua