Cooper Flagg has unofficially been a Dallas Maverick since their shocking NBA Draft Lottery win last month, but they’ll make it official on Wednesday night when the Mavs select him No. 1 overall to open the 2025 NBA Draft.
Unlike most top overall picks, Flagg will be going to a team with aspirations of winning a championship early in his tenure. Injuries (and trading away Luka Dončić) pushed the Mavs into the lottery this year, but with Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving, there isn’t a long runway for Flagg to get settled into life in the NBA before he has to start playing in high leverage spots.
That’s going to be a challenge for a young player getting up to speed, but LeBron James sees it as an incredible opportunity for Flagg to not have to figure a lot of this out on his own. Davis and Irving were both No. 1 overall picks themselves who know what the journey from elite prospect to superstardom (and winning a championship) requires, and James explained on the Mind the Game podcast why he thinks Flagg is going to get a benefit few top picks get of playing with other great players immediately.
“I personally think that he wants to be great. He had a hell of a year at Duke. A guy that can do so many different things out on the floor. Can play with the ball, can play without the ball. His jump shot is going to continue to get better. Super athletic, quick second jump,” James said. “And also, he has the benefit, unlike myself, he gets to join a team that’s established with Hall of Fame guys — Klay Thompson, Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving — right off the bat. Hall of Fame coach, Jason Kidd. You know, these guys are like, they’re can give him the whole blueprint while he continues to learn what his blueprint will be. And I think that will be an incredible thing to have that type of presence, that type of leadership, that type of just basketball IQ and knowledge around him every single day from those pieces. So, I think he’s going to be amazing.”
James got a glimpse of Flagg during last year’s Team USA camp, when Flagg was a standout on the Select squad that helped the Olympic team get ready for Paris, so he’s not just evaluating his game from the outside. His point about the situation Flagg is going to in Dallas is a really interesting one, as James thinks Flagg is going to benefit tremendously from being around great players early who can help guide him, even as he has to figure out exactly what “his blueprint” is, in James’ words.
A lot of the focus in discussing Flagg joining this Mavs team is about whether they can manage a “two timelines” approach that failed in Golden State, but a lot of that will come down to Flagg’s mentality. He won’t be the same kind of focal point that other No. 1 picks are immediately, as he’ll have to take on a secondary role at times to guys like Davis and Irving. That could be a point of frustration or it could be an opportunity to play a smaller role on a contender early while building skills to become “the guy” later on. That’ll depend on his willingness to embrace this as an opportunity and not a roadblock, and James seems to think he has the mindset to do just that.
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