WASHINGTON — Cooper Flagg, playing in the nation’s capital for the first time in his NBA career, took flight near the end of the first quarter.
Flagg watched teammate Naji Marshall pick Washington Wizards guard CJ McCollum’s pocket and then zoomed ahead in transition. Marshall tossed an overhead pass to Flagg, who slammed in a dunk. The Wizards called a timeout as Flagg roared.
The pass 🔥
The finish 🔥 pic.twitter.com/9yr8ezZvC1
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) November 9, 2025
Through the first 10 games of his career, Flagg hasn’t had many opportunities to celebrate. The Dallas Mavericks, even after beating the last-place Wizards 111-105 on Saturday at Capital One Arena, are 3-7 against what was supposed to be an easy part of the team’s schedule.
Saturday’s game at least gave the Mavericks the chance to even the regular-season series against the Wizards, who won when they visited Dallas on Oct. 24. Flagg scored 12 points (6-of-15 shooting), grabbed seven rebounds and handed out six assists in the first road win of his career.
“Things obviously haven’t gone extremely well for us so far,” Flagg said. “It isn’t the start we’ve been looking for. All we can do is stay positive and move forward and continue to take steps in the right direction.”
On Wednesday, Flagg missed a potential game-tying basket at the buzzer in Dallas’ loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. Afterward, he appeared outwardly frustrated about the Mavericks’ choppy start.
“It’s the most I’ve lost since, I think, ever,” the 18-year-old No. 1 pick said about his team’s struggles.
As a freshman at Nokomis Regional High School in Newport, Maine, Flagg’s team went 24-1. In the two years he spent at Montverde Academy in Florida, the Eagles had a combined record of 56-3. In Flagg’s one-and-done college season at Duke, the Blue Devils went 35-4.
That’s eight losses in four years — only one more loss than Flagg has experienced in 2½ weeks of playing in the NBA.
“I think you learn really fast when you play 82 games with the best players in the world,” said Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, who was the No. 2 pick in the 1994 NBA draft and played on a Dallas team that finished 10 games below .500 as a rookie. “It’s not high school. It’s not college. You lose more than six games. There are lessons to be learned.
“It doesn’t take you from becoming a champion or one of the best players in the world. You have to adjust and understand that you’re going to lose. But you learn from losing each time you take the floor.”
Friday’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies was a new low point for the Mavericks, who fell behind by as many as 35 points. The Mavericks played far from beautiful basketball Saturday on the second night of a back-to-back, but they were still able to overcome an eight-point fourth-quarter deficit to secure the win.
“I thought our execution was better for sure,” Flagg said. “That’s something that’s going to come through experience and us kind of playing together. Getting that chemistry down. I thought we kind of were more organized. Got to where we wanted to get to down the stretch. And it worked out for us.”
Marshall, who came off the bench and scored 30 points, was one of the biggest reasons the Mavericks avoided a regular-season series sweep by the Wizards. He kept attacking all night, shooting 9 of 11 on free throws and getting three 3-pointers to fall after shooting 3 of 20 from distance in his first nine games.
“I think a lot of us (have) just been in our head,” Marshall said. “Trying to be perfect and not mess up. It causes us to look out of whack at times. I think all of us came in and played free. Looked good.”
Marshall and Flagg linked up in the first quarter for one of the best sequences the Mavericks had all night. His pass over the top of the defense was perfectly placed, allowing Flagg to catch it and do the rest.
“Unbelievable,’ Marshall said about what Flagg is capable of in transition. “Big. Wide frame. Can finish. Strong. And he got bounce. Him in the open court is scary. The more we can get in the open court, get stops and play like that, the better our chances are of winning the game.”
The Mavericks’ 30th-ranked offense has a long way to go. Dallas struggled again Saturday to create clean looks in half-court situations, and it shot just 6 of 24 from 3-point territory.
But, as Marshall indicated, the more Dallas can run, the better off it will be.
“That was a great pass from Naji,” Flagg said. “He’ll throw some of those passes that you’ll kind of wonder how he made it happen. It was a great pass. I was able to make the play.”
