The Dallas Mavericks are lucky they potentially found another franchise player in rookie forward Cooper Flagg after one of the most dumbfounding trades in recent memory.
Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of the Mavericks shipping star guard Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for guard Max Christie, forward/center Anthony Davis and a 2029 first-round pick. Dallas has spiraled downward since this blockbuster deal.
The Mavericks (19-30) are 32-50 since trading Doncic, and Davis has played in just 29 games (20 this season) for the team due to groin, knee and Achilles injuries. In November 2025, the Mavericks fired former general manager Nico Harrison, orchestrator of the ill-fated trade. Doncic, meanwhile, leads the NBA in scoring (33.7 points per game).
Not all hope is lost for the Mavericks, though. 2025 No. 1 pick Flagg is giving the franchise reasons to be optimistic about the future.
Cooper Flagg has made NBA history over his past two games
Flagg scored a season-high 49 points and logged 10 rebounds in a 123-121 loss to the Charlotte Hornets (22-28) on Thursday night. He followed that up with a 34-point and 12-rebound performance in a 111-107 loss to the Houston Rockets (30-17) on Saturday night. At 19 years and 41 days old, he became the youngest player in NBA history to record two straight games with 30-point double-doubles.
