Cooper Flagg reveals how Dallas can shatter expectations

DALLAS— Cooper Flagg will make his NBA debut on Wednesday night as Dallas Mavericks will host the San Antonio Spurs. Flagg, 18, is ready for the moment. It’s a long season, of course, but 1 in the overall selection for 2025 believes in the potential of Dallas as a team. So what excites Flagg most about this 2025-26 Mavericks squad?

“I think our depth,” Flagg he told reporters after training on Tuesday. “You know, just having a deep team … We’ve got a lot of guys that aren’t going to start but could start with a lot of other teams in this league. Think just having that depth … will help us have a really good deep team in the long run.”

Players like Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington may end up not starting during the 2025-26 season, but will likely start on many other rosters as mentioned by Cooper Flagg. Dallas’ depth will prove to be impactful.

Flagg also said that one specific part of the game the Mavericks have worked on in training camp and the preseason is cutting off the ball. In previous years, the offense ran through Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. For the beginning of this season, however, there will be no real point guard on the floor at times, Doncic is now in LA, and Irving is currently recovering from an injury. This will lead to a number of creative formations and a constant attack on the move — and as a result cutting off the ball will be key.

“It’s something we’ve talked about a lot because the team is just cutting off the ball and we have to get a lot better,” Flagg said. “Just continuing to work on that aspect of cutting and playing certain guys when they start. We’ve got a lot of guys that can get hot on certain nights. So just feeling that and working on that cutting and knowing when to cut and different spacing is going to be huge for us.”

The Cooper Flagg-Anthony Davis duo will benefit from cutting off the ball with AD in the high post. Davis could even take a step forward as a playmaker with consistent slashing teammates, and also has options like Derek Lively II for the lob or Klay Thompson from outside the three-point line for open looks.

“I think AD has the ability to have a great year offensively with the weapons around him,” Jason Kidd he said for Davis’ possible breakthrough as a playmaker.

There are many reasons to believe in this team. Cooper Flagg and the Mavs will begin their 2025-26 regular season on Wednesday night at 9:30 PM EST against the Spurs.