The Dallas Mavericks won 2025 first-overall Cooper Flagg’s debut on Thursday against the Los Angeles Lakers, but his performance, by his words, wasn’t up to his standards. He follows in the footsteps of fellow number one pick Victor Wembanyama, who also slightly disappointed in his debut. Flagg struggled to score, logging 10 points on 21 shots while missing all five of his threes and drawing one free-throw.
Flagg impacted the game beyond the box score
While those scoring numbers don’t paint Flagg’s debut in a positive manner, the box score struggles to capture his shot-creating impact. Dallas placed the ball in Flagg hands from the moment the game tipped (where he was greeted by an immediate Laker blitz). They wanted to test his mettle on the ball, and Flagg handled length, athleticism and pressure well.
Flagg functioned as a high-usage on-ball creator for his Mavs on Thursday, accounting for nearly 27% of his team’s shots. His drives and creation chances often opened up looks for teammates to crash the boards and make open shots. To compensate for his scoring inefficiency, Flagg added six rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block.
He critically turned the ball over just once despite his massive on-ball load and defensive impact. Flagg translated his trademark defense to his first NBA Summer League game. His steal and block numbers reflect his excellent defensive playmaking and help-side shot blocking, traits that can help him become an All-NBA defender.
COOPER FLAGG REJECTION ❌
RYAN NEMBHARD 3 🎯Dallas goes up 2 with less than a minute to play on ESPN! pic.twitter.com/aIQl7TdCgl
— NBA (@NBA) July 11, 2025
To reach his offensive ceiling, he must continue to adjust to the speed and physicality to the NBA game. As a creator, Flagg struggled to carve separation and fool defenders as he did in college. After posting a strong 42.9% free-throw rate at Duke, Flagg wasn’t able to stack up easy points at the stripe.
Wembanyama rebounded after a shaky NBA debut, dropping 27 points in his second game. Flagg will have a chance to do the same on Saturday, where he’ll face second-overall pick Dylan Harper and the San Antonio Spurs. There were plenty of promising signals from Flagg’s NBA Summer League debut. His feel for the game fueled great impact, especially on defense, making it a positive showing overall. No reason to fret!
