DALLAS — On the first offensive possession of his NBA career. Cooper Flagg during transition, he pushed the ball off the floor and gave it away Anthony Davis and soared into the air to catch a pass thrown back to him by the 10-time All-Star, much to the delight of the sold-out crowd at the American Airlines Center.
But Flagg couldn't finish it off with a dunk. As the ball left the hoop, it crashed into the baseline and landed in the backfield.
It was an episode that foreshadowed the debut of the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA—high expectations, but a disappointing result for Flagg and the team. Dallas Mavericks.
Flagg went scoreless in the first half and finished with 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting. San Antonio Spurs rolled into 125-92 rout Wednesday evening. The 6-foot-9 Flagg started at point guard, a position he had never played before joining the Mavs, and committed three turnovers without recording an assist.
“Not very good,” Flagg said when asked to rate his performance. “Obviously we didn't play very well, but we need to move on from that, shift our focus and start looking towards Friday. [against the Washington Wizards]”
The game was dominated by the Spurs center Victor VembanyamaNo. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft with 40 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocks. Spurs defender Stephon CastleRookie of the Year last season, had 22 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals while naming Flagg as his primary defender.
“He didn't throw the ball very well, but he seemed a lot more poised than I thought,” Castle said of Flagg. “I mean, my first game, I was nervous. He made some good reads. He didn't seem too nervous, so I think he's going to have a great year.”
San Antonio security guard Dylan HarperNo. 2 behind Flagg made a more impressive debut. He scored 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting in 23 minutes off the bench.
Flagg, on the other hand, didn't score until he made a mid-range shot on the first possession of the second half.
“Game one. I mean, he's still a rookie,” said Davis, who scored a team-high 22 points on 7-of-22 shooting as the Mavs' offense stalled. “You come in and pre-season has obviously gone well, but when this game comes, [in a] a packed stadium, a nationally televised game… I'm not sure if he's into social media or not, but you saw it – it was all Cooper Flagg and Wemby's No. 1 match and all that. So you start to hear it, and I'm not sure if it got through to him, but it's that nervousness in the first game when it's time for something real. So he'll be fine.”
Flagg became the fifth Dallas player to record a double-double in his NBA debut with 10 rebounds in 32 minutes. That list includes his coach Jason Kidd, who did not find the 18-year-old's debut disappointing.
“I thought he played well. The statistics don't say so, but no one in this room is sitting in his shoes. He did well as a rookie and he's going to learn from this game. We will all learn and the next time we take the floor we will be better,” Kidd said.
The Mavs scored just eight points on 19 possessions when Flagg brought the ball up the court, according to ESPN Research. He's listed as the point guard on a big roster at 6-foot-6. Klay Thompson shortest player, but Mavs intend to have forwards PJ Washington and Davis share playmaking duties with the newcomer in a system built around player and ball movement.
“We just kind of stalled,” Flagg said. “It’s still early, so we need to keep working on it, figure it out, improve our flow.”
Flagg made just two shots from the floor in the first half. He came out of the break determined to be more aggressive, going 4-of-11 from the field in the third quarter as the Spurs outscored the Mavs by a 33-21 margin.
“I thought Cooper was playing within himself,” Kidd said. “He's taken what the defense has given him. He makes plays. He dives on the floor. He's somebody that's not going to come out here and just shoot every time he touches the ball. He tries to make the play the right way, and I think he did that in the first half. I thought he was comfortable and he came out in the third, started looking for aggressive shots that he knocked down.”
The Mavs were outscored by 29 points when Flagg was on the floor, their worst scoring margin of the game.
“I’m excited to keep moving forward,” Flagg said. “Obviously it hurts, the first loss was like that, but I’m just trying to look forward to the next one and turn the page and get ready. We know we need to be a lot better, so just stay positive, stay prepared and just focus on the next thing.”
