Cooper Flagg spent most of his basketball career playing both forward positions, with occasional reps initiating the offense.
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd saw those flashes of a potential primary ballhandler on film, particularly during Flagg’s lone season at Duke. Two days after Dallas made Flagg the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, Kidd revealed his plan for the 18-year-old rookie.
“I want to put him at the point guard,” Kidd said during Flagg’s introductory press conference. “I want to make him uncomfortable.”
Flagg spent the first seven games of his NBA career as the Mavericks’ starting point guard, the lead facilitator in a jumbo lineup that featured Klay Thompson, PJ Washington and Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively before they suffered lower leg injuries.
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It was a compromising position for Flagg, who often faced immense defensive pressure from some of the league’s top defenders, including Oklahoma City’s Lu Dort and Houston’s Amen Thompson. The Mavericks also lacked adequate spacing around Flagg with a lack of perimeter shooting.
In seven games as the team’s starting point guard, Flagg averaged 13.6 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.1 turnovers. He had shooting splits of 38.8% from the field, 30.8% from 3 and 100% from the free-throw line. Kidd ended the experiment for Flagg starting at point guard on Nov. 5 against New Orleans. Since then, a traditional point guard has started alongside Flagg, whether it be D’Angelo Russell or Brandon Williams.
“Maybe it’s saved a little of the energy for him to be aggressive to attack,” Kidd said at Thursday’s practice. “I think also having him being a point guard, he will always respect whoever the point guard is and how hard it is to play that position.”
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The difference is vastly apparent and Flagg’s comfortability has improved with averages of 17.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists with 2.8 turnovers per game in six starts at the small forward position. His overall shooting is better as he converts 48.3% from the field, but his 3-point shooting remains an area of growth with clips of 23% from beyond the arc.
Flagg addressed his recent success and provided a candid response about his struggles at point guard following Friday’s double-overtime loss.
“It’s a lot of pressure and a lot of responsibility that comes with being a point guard,” Flagg said. “I don’t know if I was ready to handle that right off the bat. I tried my best and that’s not to say I can’t go back to it and I can’t work on it and get better. I think it’s just worked out lately where it’s been better to have somebody else help and relieve pressure. It doesn’t mean I can’t bring it up and initiate offense.”
There are a few reasons why Kidd, who became a Hall of Fame player at that position, wanted to throw Flagg into the fire so early. The Mavericks’ best option at point guard is unavailable because Kyrie Irving is still recovering from a torn ACL. In a perfect world, Flagg would likely start at small forward in a lineup with Irving, Thompson or Max Christie, Davis and Lively.
With a fully healthy lineup, there would be immense defensive attention on the Mavericks’ two All-Stars, allowing Flagg to cut, rim-run and set screens, which would allow better offensive spacing.
“He’s getting the top defender,” Kidd said. “If we were healthy, I think it looks a little different with Kai and AD on the floor. He has the third or fourth defender and he’ll be able to take advantage of that, even with the first defender he’s still been able to score and make plays for his team.”
The Mavericks also wanted to expedite his long-term development in hopes that he’d be able to handle the pressure such as notable point-forwards like LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
While Flagg has played away from the ball as of late to open games, the Mavericks are still playing through him when it counts toward the end. Look at Friday’s double-overtime thriller when Flagg received the ball and drove through the chest of Nic Batum to score a layup with 20 seconds left.
It was just another example of Kidd trusting Flagg in clutch situations, similarly to when he drove the ball and finished a double-clutch layup over Antetokounmpo on Monday night. Deciding when to keep the ball and be assertive as opposed to making plays for his teammates is part of Flagg’s development. The more reps, the better he’ll be.
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It may not lead to wins for the Mavericks right away. And Flagg may not be a traditional point guard, but he received firsthand training on what it takes to control an offense.
“[It’s] just a lot of responsibility for being at that position and you’re being tasked with obviously creating for everyone else before yourself as a priority,” Flagg said. “I don’t know if I was ready for that, but Coach Kidd was confident in me. I was confident in myself. It wasn’t perfect, but I think I learned a lot through that.”
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