The Cooper Flagg hype has been building for quite some time, and it only intensified when he was selected first overall in June. Now, he’s in the NBA Summer League, looking to showcase his talent early on. Flagg is a strong two-way player — some even describe him as generational.
“Flagg is considered a potentially generational type of two-way prospect. He's been ticketed as a future No. 1 pick for several years due to the seeming likelihood that he becomes an elite player on both sides of the ball,” CBS Sports’ Jared Dubin wrote.
However, the concern ESPN’s Tim Legler — a former Dallas Maverick — expressed before the draft surfaced during Flagg’s Summer League debut on Thursday.
“Alongside Anthony Davis and a rim-running center, you would love to have a three that can be comfortable out to 24 feet or catch and shoots and also get his own out to 24 feet off the dribble," Legler said in reference to Flagg's fit within the starting unit. "Right now, he's got, I think some mechanical issues that he's gotta iron out to get to that level."
Flagg didn’t hit a single shot from beyond the arc. But despite his shooting struggles, he delivered in a different way — one that aligns with Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd’s vision. In his post-draft press conference, Kidd made it clear he wanted Flagg to be uncomfortable by learning how to run the point guard position. On Thursday, Flagg showed he could do just that.
“There's been some buzz about Dallas wanting to play Flagg as a guard in the regular season, and Thursday suggested he can pull it off,” Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey wrote. “And for the most part, he looked comfortable playing the role of de facto point guard. He showed playmaking instincts that must have Mavs fans excited, especially since head coach Jason Kidd carried out a similar experiment nearly a decade ago with Giannis Antetokounmpo.”
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While Flagg didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, he answered his coach’s challenge, proving he can step into the point guard role if needed. His playmaking instincts are off the charts for such a young forward — and there’s still plenty of room for growth.