No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg will take the court for his highly-anticipated NBA debut on Wednesday night, facing off against No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper and the San Antonio Spurs.
Flagg, the reigning NCAA Player of the Year, is expected to have an immediate impact at the NBA level. The 6-foot-9 rookie has shown the ability to be effective at multiple positions, but he’ll begin his professional career at the point guard spot.
Before tipoff on Wednesday night, head coach Jason Kidd officially identified Flagg as the Mavericks’ starting point guard.
“Mavericks coach Jason Kidd says Cooper Flagg will be officially listed as the Mavericks’ starting point guard tonight in his NBA debut against Victor Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs and No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper,” NBA insider Marc Stein reported.
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Flagg will be the primary ball-handler in a Dallas starting lineup featuring Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II.
This decision has been in the works for some time now. The Mavericks experimented with Flagg as a primary ball-handler in the preseason, recognizing his vision and effectiveness at the point guard position.
“I think when we’re looking at him starting at the point guard, it’s probably more of a point forward situation,” Kidd said of Flagg’s lineup spot earlier this week. “But since technically we gotta list someone at the point guard position, so I guess we’re listing him at the point guard position.”
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In his one-and-done season with the Duke Blue Devils, Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game from the forward position. Now, he’s looking to translate that production to the next level.
Mavericks insider Tim MacMahon of ESPN also discussed the team’s plans to use Flagg at the point guard position.
“He’s going to have the ball in his hands. They want him, and believe that he will impact the game in a lot of different ways: scoring, facilitating, rebounding and especially as a disruptive, dominant type of defensive player,” MacMahon said. “There are no kid gloves with Cooper Flagg.”
Wednesday night’s game will tipoff at 9:30 p.m. ET from Dallas’ American Airlines Center.
