The Dallas Mavericks have had an interesting year to say the least, and it is sure to shape their future.
Over the past few months, the Mavericks have been picking up the pieces after shockingly deciding to send Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Following the February deal, the Mavericks continued to deal with major injury issues and narrowly made the play-in before getting eliminated in embarrassing fashion.
Still, the Mavericks might have something to look forward to as next season approaches, most notably the addition of Cooper Flagg. After having some horrendous luck to end the NBA season, the Mavericks landed the No. 1 pick and added Flagg in June, which could determine every bit of their success in the next few seasons.
How long until Flagg becomes the Mavericks’ top player?
In a recent Bleacher Report article, Grant Hughes chose the player likeliest to be their team’s top player in three years. For the Mavericks, Hughes chose Flagg, which makes plenty of sense.
While this time last year, that answer would have been much easier, with Doncic being the clear-cut gut. However, Flagg has some intriguing potential competition in Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving.
While Hughes acknowledged that those two are certainly better than Flagg now, they will decline and Flagg will at least have established himself as one of the top young stars in the league by 2028. Still, it’s a risky pick to say Flagg will be the top player in Dallas in just three years when he hasn’t even played an NBA game yet.