Cooper Flagg’s NBA Summer time League debut drew as a lot curiosity as attainable for an exhibition sport in the summertime. Along with it being the primary time followers may see the No. 1 general decide of this yr’s NBA Draft on the courtroom, his Dallas Mavericks had been dealing with the Los Angeles Lakers and Bronny James.
Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Heart was packed on Thursday as everybody watched Flagg, believed to be the NBA’s subsequent generational star, battle the son of the face of the league for the previous 20 years.
Whereas James has proven indicators of progress and is engaged on his sport in his second NBA Summer time League forward of his sophomore season, the principle story was how Flagg fared.
When you ask the previous Duke Blue Satan how he carried out, you will hear him solely concentrate on what he did not do nicely.
“One of many worst video games of my life,” said Flagg when requested to judge his play.
It was removed from all dangerous, although, particularly when you think about it was his first professional sport.
Flagg scored 10 points, changing on simply 5-of-21 pictures in 32 minutes. For a participant billed as a future high decide since early highschool and who averaged 19.2 factors per sport because the Nationwide Participant of the 12 months throughout his lone school season, an inefficient exhibiting like he had on Thursday is much beneath his regular normal.
Along with his 10 factors, Flagg added six rebounds, three assists and three steals. He confirmed he can do excess of simply put the ball within the basket.
Flagg facilitated for others and created offense, one thing the Mavericks will depend on him to do instantly as Kyrie Irving recovers from season-ending surgical procedure. With Irving not anticipated to return till the spring of 2026 on the earliest, Dallas might flip to Flagg to run the offense and function its level guard early within the season, even when that does not in the end turn into his function when the staff is totally assembled.
Past his statistics, Flagg showcased his expertise, making what ESPN reporter Tim McMahon known as “successful performs” in his recap. One instance was when Flagg turned a steal into a dunk the opposite means.
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