Are Kyrie Irving & Cooper Flagg Playing In 'Dress Rehearsal'? What Coach Dusty May Needs From Duo

DALLAS — Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg are set to play together at American Airlines Center for the first time Friday night, when the Dallas Mavericks close the preseason against the Atlanta Hawks. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. CT on KFAA and MavsTV.

After Thursday's practice, Mavericks coach Dusty May called it his team's dress rehearsal, according to Mavs.com's Dwain Price. It is the last of Dallas' four preseason games.

Dallas hired May in June, two months after he led Michigan to the NCAA championship. The Wolverines beat UConn 69-63 in the title game and finished 34-3. May replaced Jason Kidd and is in his first season coaching in the NBA.

Irving and Flagg both sat out Wednesday's 101-97 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans for rest. Daniel Gafford, Morez Johnson Jr., Dereck Lively II, Santi Aldama, Jett Howard, and Marcus Sasser were inactive with injuries or illness. Tobi Lawal and John Poulakidas led Dallas with 16 points apiece, and the Mavericks shot 10-of-49 from 3-point range.

Not everyone on that list is expected back Friday.

"This will be the closest to a regular season game that we'll play just based on availability," May said. "We're going to play more of a regular rotation — with the exception of a few guys who will probably still be out."

May wants to see Dallas establish rhythm offensively and cover for one another defensively.

"Just to look like we have a good rhythm and flow to the game offensively, and then defensively that we're connected and we'll cover for each other," May continued. "We've got some guys with great natural instincts, so we want to make sure we utilize those, but also not give up easy baskets when it doesn't go well."

Irving tore the ACL in his left knee against the Sacramento Kings on March 3, 2025, and missed all of last season. Sunday in Macao, Flagg found him on the opening possession, and Irving scored on a reverse layup 14 seconds into the game.

He finished with 17 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists in 22 minutes of a 132-115 win over the Houston Rockets.

Flagg had 14 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals in 25 minutes. The first overall pick in the 2025 draft, he won Rookie of the Year last season while Dallas went 26-56.

May said both players have great natural instincts on defense.

"It's a small sample size, but any time those two guys are on the court we're going to be a better basketball team just because they both have such high basketball IQs," May explained. "They're both great passers, they're scorers, they both defend and have great natural instincts defensively as well."

Dyson Daniels made the All-Defensive Second Team for Atlanta last season. In 2024-25, he led the NBA in steals, made the All-Defensive First Team, and won Most Improved Player.

The Hawks acquired Luguentz Dort from the Oklahoma City Thunder on July 19 in a three-team trade. He made the All-Defensive First Team in 2025, the same year he won a title with Oklahoma City.

For May, playing other teams is where Dallas learns the most about itself. Patterns show up in how the Mavericks are being guarded, and then it is on them to find the right counter.

"Those two guys could be as good as any point of attack defenders," May said. "I think the speed of the game tomorrow will be the fastest we've played yet, so we're seeing a good mix where Houston switches everything."

May said Atlanta gives Dallas another defensive system to solve.

"New Orleans, before our game [Wednesday], really doesn't switch much, and now Atlanta is kind of a combination of the two," May added. "You've got to face all these different scenarios and all these different types of systems. The league is very similar in a lot of ways, but also because of personnel it's different as well."

Friday is also Zaccharie Risacher's first game against the Hawks since that trade. Atlanta took him first overall in the 2024 draft, and he finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2024-25. He averaged 9.6 points and 3.8 rebounds in 67 games last season.

The same deal sent Ryan Nembhard from Dallas to Atlanta and three second-round picks to Oklahoma City. Nembhard averaged 6.6 points as a rookie with the Mavericks last season.

May does not expect Risacher to carry that matchup by himself.

"That's one thing about teams that care about each other," May said. "Typically, when there's a personal battle like that, everyone else picks up the slack and it becomes more of our team versus their team versus Zac versus the Hawks."

Risacher had 6 points on 3-of-11 shooting Wednesday and missed all 7 of his 3-point attempts. He added 4 rebounds and 2 steals in 23 minutes. In Macao on Sunday, he scored 14 of his 16 points after halftime.

May said the staff challenged Risacher to make more of an impact with his speed, athleticism, and length against New Orleans.

"Last night was the best he's been as far as activity, blocking some shots," May said. "He's still a young player, so he's learning a lot. We challenged him to be more impactful with his speed, athleticism and length, and I thought he did that."

"He blocked a couple of shots from behind, much like Coop does a lot," May continued. "So, I challenged him to fly around more and use his athleticism, and then on the offensive end he got to the rim one time. But we've got to continue to find ways to generate a connection with those lineups that haven't really played much together, and Zac will be a big part of that going forward."

Entering the preseason, May had not settled on a starting lineup. Dallas started Irving, Flagg, P.J. Washington, Gafford, and Risacher on Sunday, and Price reported that group is the likely starting five Friday.

The Mavericks did not land back in Dallas until 2:30 a.m. Monday after a week in China, according to Price. May said Thursday's practice went after a few problems that have shown up on both ends of the floor this preseason.

"I didn't think that they were flat as much as just a little bit short on the shots and just didn't have — not as much flat mentally — but just a little bit fatigue or jet lag," May said. "I thought today they were very, very [purposeful] about repairing some things from last night's game, even though it wasn't them."

May said Dallas has identified a few recurring issues it wants corrected before the regular season.

"There's been a few themes of areas on both sides of the ball that we haven't done well and I think our guys were very, very conscious of that today and we took a step forward in fixing a few of those," May added.

Dallas opens the regular season Oct. 21 at Houston, with tip-off at 7:30 p.m. CT. The Mavericks' home opener is Oct. 24 against the San Antonio Spurs.