Mavs leave no doubt teen Flagg their future
DALLAS—Cooper Flagg was in the midst of an unprecedented run for an NBA teenager when the Mavericks firmly declared their rookie No. 1 pick the future face of the franchise.
That day was coming no matter what and it arrived with Dallas trading Anthony Davis, the 10-time All-Star who joined the Mavericks in a deal that cost them generational superstar Luka Doncic and sent their fans into a funk from which they’re still recovering.
“We have an unbelievable player in Cooper Flagg,” co-interim general manager Michael Finley, a former Mavericks player, said on Thursday night during the announcement of a three-team trade involving nine players and five draft picks that are all going to Dallas.
“When you have that type of draft capital, it gives yourself the ability to go out and put the proper pieces around him to make our team, like I keep stressing, a championship contender.”
The Mavericks got Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson and Marvin Bagley III, along with two first-round picks and three second-rounders from Washington for Davis, Jaden Hardy, D’Angelo Russell and Dante Exum. Malaki Branham was also part of the deal for Dallas, which then traded him to Charlotte for Tyus Jones.
Flagg entered on Thursday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs as the first teenager with three consecutive 30-point games, starting with the 19-year-old’s 49-point outing against Charlotte, which is a league record for the under-20 group. Flagg followed that with 34 points against Houston and 36 against Boston.
The Mavericks lost all three games on Flagg’s run to put their losing streak at five games, a season worst, which helps explain why the Mavericks moved on from the oft-injured Davis, currently sidelined by a hand injury, and chose another retooling of the roster.
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