It’s not surprising that No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg immediately stood out for the Dallas Mavericks.
The stunning part is that Flagg is lining up to have one of the most memorable rookie campaigns this century.
Flagg looks to continue his stellar play when the Mavericks host the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night.
Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs and LeBron James, then of the Cleveland Cavaliers, are considered to have produced the biggest standout rookie campaigns since 2000.
Wembanyama averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, recorded a league-leading 254 blocked shots and made 128 3-pointers as the unanimous Rookie of the Year winner in 2023-24. And James was fresh out of high school when he averaged 20.9 points, 5.9 assists and 5.5 rebounds in 2003-04.
Other top-notch rookies included Blake Griffin (22.5 ppg, 12.1 rebounds) for the Los Angeles Clippers in 2010-11, former Dallas star Luka Doncic (21.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 6.0 assists in 2018-19) and Kevin Durant (20.3 ppg) of the 2007-08 Seattle SuperSonics.
Through 24 games, the 18-year-old Flagg is averaging 17.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals, and it feels surreal for him to hear himself mentioned with names like Wemby, LeBron and others.
“It’s incredible,” Flagg said. “It makes me feel really blessed to be in this position and for everything to happen the way it did, coming here at this point in my life. I would have never imagined any of this when I was younger.
“It’s just a dream come true. I just feel so blessed and grateful to be here and be surrounded by great people.”
While Flagg has impressed Jason Kidd, the Dallas coach doesn’t want to place him in the all-time great rookies category just yet.
“The No. 1 pick, he’s lived up to all the hype,” said Kidd, who shared Rookie of the Year honors with Grant Hill in 1994-95. “He understands how to play the game. To rank him with some of the other rookies I’ve been around, we’ll wait until the end of the season.”
Dallas has won four of the past five games.
The Nets also are faring well with three wins in their last four contests after starting the season by losing 16 of their first 19 games.
Brooklyn hasn’t played since Saturday’s 119-101 home victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.
“The break is kind of tough because you get into a rhythm of playing every other day,” big man Nic Claxton told reporters midweek.
Claxton was one of the stars against New Orleans as he recorded his second triple-double of the season. He registered 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
Michael Porter Jr. also stepped up, matching his season high with 35 points. Porter made five 3-pointers and collected nine rebounds.
Porter has scored over 30 points in each of his past three appearances while making 17 of 33 3-pointers during the stretch. He has eight 30-point efforts in 19 games this season.
Porter is averaging a team-leading 25.8 points and his 67 treys tie for 12th in the NBA.
Meanwhile, Nets coach Jordi Fernandez likes the recent progress his club has displayed.
“We’re 23 games in and we’re looking at the next 20 games,” Fernandez said. “Can we sustain it? Can we get better? Then we look at the next 20. The process is the most important thing for us and the development of the group, not just one player.”
The Nets recorded a 113-109 win in Dallas in the second and final matchup last season to halt a six-game slide against the Mavericks.
Dallas big man Dereck Lively II will undergo right foot surgery and is out for the rest of the season.
