The ailing Dallas Mavericks will welcome back star rookie Cooper Flagg, who missed his first career game on Wednesday with an illness.
The Dallas Mavericks - now 4-12 after a heartbreaking loss to the New York Knicks on Wednesday - will get a small amount of help in the health department as they have activated Cooper Flagg ahead of Friday's home game against the New Orleans Pelicans at 7:30 p.m.
The top-pick rookie Flagg missed the first game of his career against the Knicks with an illness. Dallas lost after a driving layup by Brandon Williams that would have tied the game at the final buzzer was waved off because of an offensive foul.
Flagg seemed in good spirits with his teammates as he took part in shoot around Friday afternoon at American Airlines Center.
The 18-year-old forward has averaged 15.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 33.7 minutes per game for the Mavs this season.
Head coach Jason Kidd has openly expressed the unfortunate nature of Dallas' injury problem this season. Forward Anthony Davis remains out with a calf strain, reserves Caleb Martin and Ryan Nembhard are still currently injured and big men Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively have been in and out of the lineup. As of this week, Dante Exum will remain out for the season as he undergoes another knee surgery.
Of course, this all comes as point guard Kyrie Irving continues rehabbing his torn ACL from the end of last season.
Ahead of Friday's bout with the Pelicans, our Grant Afseth also reports that stop-gap point guard D'Angelo Russell - who had a team-high 23 points and seven assists off the bench on Wednesday - is listed as questionable for Friday with an illness.
This one, as seen by the blue court at the AAC, is Dallas' third game in the NBA Cup group stage. The Mavs are 0-2 in West B with losses to the Memphis Grizzlies and LA Clippers. Their final group stage game will come against Luka Doncic's Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 28 - which correlates with the initial timeline for Davis' return to the floor.
Both Los Angeles teams lead the group with 2-0 records while Memphis sits at 1-1 and New Orleans matches Dallas with a 0-2 mark. The Pelicans have a -16 point differential in these contests, two points worse than the Mavericks in the group.
On the season, the Mavs have put up solid defensive numbers (ranking third in the NBA by defensive rating) but continue to get bogged down by horrendous offense amid this stretch of poor injury luck.
Dallas ranks as the worst team in the NBA in offensive rating at 105.2 points per 100 possessions. They'll look to improve those numbers against a 2-13 Pelicans team that ranks 28th in defensive rating, giving up 122 points per game.
New Orleans won its only matchup with Dallas so far this season, a 101-99 final on Nov. 5 where Flagg led the Mavericks with 20 points and nine rebounds, but missed a potential game-tying jumper in the final seconds.