KYRIE IRVING’S FACE beamed with a giant smile as he approached Cooper Flagg close to the Dallas Mavericks’ bench, a stark distinction to the American Airways Heart scoreboard at that second.
It was halfway via the third quarter of the season opener, and hardly something had gone as hoped for Flagg at that time of his closely anticipated NBA debut. He had extra turnovers than factors as Dallas trailed the San Antonio Spurs by 15 when Flagg stepped again onto the ground after a timeout earlier than stopping to pay attention as Irving approached him, the veteran clapping animatedly and providing good vibes together with phrases of encouragement.
“Simply preserve your head up!” Irving instructed Flagg.
Irving, like teammate Anthony Davis, understands the glare of the highlight that comes with being the No. 1 decide within the NBA draft. However they started their NBA careers with the Cleveland Cavaliers and New Orleans Pelicans, respectively, two franchises that had been within the early phases of a rebuild. Flagg’s state of affairs is a far cry from that norm as he arrived in Dallas solely a season faraway from the Mavs making an NBA Finals look. He joined a veteran-heavy roster that has inside win-now expectations even with Irving nonetheless months away from getting back from knee surgical procedure.
“The very first thing you inform him is to have enjoyable and revel in your self,” Irving instructed ESPN throughout the preseason. “The work is simply getting began, however it’s fairly distinctive when it comes to the state of affairs he is in. However being a No. 1 decide remains to be going to come back with the stress, nonetheless going to come back with a variety of the inside ideas that you just need to impose on the workforce. You need to let everyone know who you might be, and also you need to earn everyone’s respect. And that is what it takes to be on this league. There is not any boys allowed.
“For me, it is simply ensuring he does not get overwhelmed or it isn’t an excessive amount of for him.”
The primary week of Flagg’s profession featured combined outcomes as coach Jason Kidd tossed him into the deep finish, beginning the 18-year-old at level guard, a place the rookie had by no means performed.
There have been moments when Flagg’s franchise-changing potential has popped, corresponding to his poster dunk over Toronto’s Sandro Mamukelashvili on a quick break. That was the spotlight of Flagg’s first NBA victory, when he completed with 22 factors and no turnovers, becoming a member of Kobe Bryant as the one gamers in NBA historical past with a 20-point, zero-turnover outing earlier than turning 19.
There have additionally been stretches when Flagg has light into the background. He was scoreless within the first half of his debut and did not report an help within the recreation, a blowout loss to the Spurs, when reigning Rookie of the 12 months Stephon Citadel’s stress protection made initiating the offense troublesome. Flagg sat out in crunch time, save for a few late defensive possessions, and completed with solely two factors and no assists once more in a loss to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder the evening after his terrific efficiency in opposition to Toronto.
“He is 18 years previous,” Kidd mentioned. “He’ll look good; he will make some errors. He’ll study from successful and shedding, however being on this seat early on in your profession will solely make him higher as we go ahead.”
The challenges for Flagg aren’t simply on the ground. His lone season at Duke, the place he was maybe probably the most hyped recruit within the prestigious program’s historical past, ready Flagg in addition to attainable for the expectations and calls for on a No. 1 decide extensively billed as a generational prospect. However he has the added stress of becoming a member of a franchise that’s nonetheless reeling from probably the most controversial commerce in NBA historical past as he navigates fame and playoff expectations.
“I imply, it is rather a lot mentally,” Flagg mentioned after his first win. “It is rather a lot. I have been via rather a lot during the last couple months. It has been a whirlwind, so simply attempting to take time to regulate and adapt.
“It does not at all times go excellent instantly. So simply figuring it out day-to-day, recreation by recreation, minute by minute how I may also help my workforce in one of the best methods. I feel I am beginning to get extra comfy for certain.”
FLAGG FIGURED THE query would come as he met the Dallas media for the primary time a few days after the draft. He gave a side-eye look to his twin brother, Ace, who was seated within the entrance row, and tried to suppress a smirk when requested about following within the footsteps of Luka Doncic because the face of the Mavs’ franchise.
“I am coming in simply attempting to study and attempting to get higher each single day,” Flagg mentioned then. “If I can try this to one of the best of my means, I feel expectations and pressures that different folks will placed on me and our workforce, that may form of work itself out. So I am simply attempting to come back in and be one of the best that I will be and simply win on the highest degree.”
As centered as Flagg is on basketball, the weird chain of occasions that introduced him to Dallas continues to loom over the group, starting with normal supervisor Nico Harrison’s beautiful choice to commerce a homegrown perennial MVP candidate coming into his prime to the Los Angeles Lakers in early February.
The torn ACL that Irving suffered in early March, a significant factor in Dallas tumbling out of the playoff image to get these 1.8% lottery odds that landed Flagg, is therapeutic. The followers’ emotional wounds, stemming from emotions of betrayal, may not any time quickly.
The workforce’s followers have embraced the rookie. His No. 32 jersey is the one one seen extra usually than Doncic’s No. 77 in house crowds, and followers shout “Flagg!” in unison on the acceptable time throughout the pregame renditions of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” However the followers have not forgiven administration. They broke out into “Fireplace Nico!” chants late within the lopsided losses to the Spurs and lowly Washington Wizards to open the season.
It is a topic Flagg correctly avoids.
“I am simply locked in on the sport,” Flagg mentioned after the loss to the Wizards, claiming he was unaware of any chants from the gang. “I did not even hear these. I am listening to Coach, listening to the blokes on the workforce, the vets, simply attempting to determine as some ways as I can to assist the workforce affect the sport in a optimistic method. I am attempting to tune all that stuff out.”
Flagg slid into Doncic’s former spot within the Mavs’ beginning lineup, however no one fairly expects the newcomer to exchange the celebrity’s manufacturing instantly, if ever.
Doncic led the league in scoring with a franchise-record 33.9 factors per recreation in his final full season in Dallas, when he additionally averaged 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists. Flagg averaged 13.4 factors, 6.2 rebounds and a couple of.8 assists throughout Dallas’ five-game homestand to begin the season. The Mavs have salvaged a 2-3 report regardless of rating second to final within the league in offensive effectivity, scoring solely 103.5 factors per 100 possessions, a quantity that drops to 95.6 with Flagg on the ground.
“He is working at his craft to be one of the best on this planet,” Kidd mentioned. “It will take a while.”
IRVING OFTEN HAS a 6-foot-9 shadow in his post-practice classes, capturing collectively and taking turns enjoying one-on-one in opposition to an assistant coach, the rookie mimicking strikes the nine-time All-Star makes. Irving is joyful to supply assist and knowledge, however his absence created a evident void of ballhandling and playmaking that falls largely on Flagg to fill whereas the veteran works his method again.
The Mavs’ veterans, particularly the few with Corridor of Fame resumes, are trying to reduce the burden Flagg feels.
“Often with a variety of No. 1 picks, you go and you bought to save lots of a franchise,” five-time All-Star Klay Thompson instructed ESPN. “I simply instructed him, ‘Your rookie yr is sort of a free shot. You needn’t have any expectations.'”
Davis, the 10-time All-Star huge man who was the headliner of the return within the Doncic deal, believes it is his accountability to defend the rookie from the burden of carrying the franchise — for now.
“We would like him to be assured however don’t fret in regards to the stress,” Davis instructed ESPN. “I am going to deal with the stress. J. Kidd will deal with the stress. When Kyrie comes again, he’ll deal with the stress. We would like him to exit right here and simply play basketball. He’ll have stress three, 4 or 5 years from now after we all most likely going to be out [of] the league.”
“He’ll be nice, however we would like him to develop. We do not need to rush him or something. But additionally he is aware of he desires to win, and we all know we need to win.”
There is a dose of actuality that comes with the date on Flagg’s start certificates. He will not flip 19 till Dec. 21, having reclassified in highschool to permit him to enter the NBA a yr early.
There has by no means been an 18-year-old enjoying a serious function on an NBA playoff workforce.
For all of Bryant’s brilliance, he did not play as a result of a coach’s choice within the first regular-season recreation of his profession, and he averaged 7.6 factors on 41.7% capturing with extra turnovers than assists as a rookie. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Tracy McGrady had middling manufacturing, primarily as reserves, for dangerous groups.
LeBron James put up by far one of the best numbers of any participant so younger, averaging 20.9 factors on 41.7% capturing, 5.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists per recreation throughout his Rookie of the 12 months marketing campaign. However the Cavaliers, who had been coming off a 17-win season, completed with a 35-47 report.
“Now we have championship aspirations, however we additionally know the place we’re as a workforce rising and constructing, not simply now however for the long run,” Irving mentioned. “So it is simply vital, man, that he has head on his shoulders, which he does already. He is very mature for his age, and it isn’t too usually you get an 18-year-old in your franchise the place he is the youngest and he is smart past his years.
“But additionally, he is nonetheless 18. So we acquired to respect that. And he is nonetheless a child that must be developed.”
The Mavs anticipate that there might be fluctuations in Flagg’s statistical manufacturing as a rookie. That is high-quality so long as the relentless competitiveness that Kidd has known as Flagg’s “superpower” is a continuing.
Kidd’s favourite play by Flagg to date wasn’t a viral spotlight. In truth, it did not even present up within the field rating. It occurred when Flagg dove on the ground between two Spurs to struggle for a unfastened ball when the Mavs had been trailing by 19 late within the third quarter of the opener.
So long as Flagg offers that degree of effort, the Mavs will gladly reside together with his rising pains.
“I feel the stress they placed on me is simply to be myself,” Flagg mentioned. “Simply to be who I do know I will be and the individual I have been my entire life and up so far. So I do not really feel any stress from them. They at all times need me to be nice and be who I’m.”