Teen sensation Cooper Flagg ignites history, joining LeBron and Luka with remarkable rookie feats despite Mavs' defeat.
The Dallas Mavericks continue to struggle to find their footing as they sustained a 113-107 loss at the Sacramento Kings on Saturday.
But rookie sensation Cooper Flagg is meanwhile creating a history-making footprint.
Dallas’ loss dropped the Mavs to 12-21 ... but the centerpiece to paying attention to this franchise right now is the teenage Flagg, who here finished with a game-high 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting, to go along with six rebounds, five assists and three 3's in 34 minutes of action.
And he's now earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as Los Angeles Lakers superstars LeBron James and Luka Doncic.
How so? Flagg joins LeBron and Luka as the only players in NBA history age-19 or younger to record three straight 20-point, 5-rebound, 5-assist games.
Entering Saturday’s game, the 19-year-old Flagg had offered up averages of 19.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.2 steals in 34.5 minutes per game. ... more than living up to the billing that came with the Duke product being the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Flagg's postgame focus was on the Mavs' poor start in this game as they were down 18 in the first half.
“We just didn’t come out with great energy,” Flagg said. “Our starter guys gotta be better with that, getting us off to a great start, me included. Obviously, I had a terrible first half. But not a lot of energy for us.
"We gotta be better coming out ready to play. I think that’s a big part of it.”
The next step, of course, it for Flagg's boyhood brilliance to translate into wins. In this case, Dallas lost to a Kings team that came in at just 7-23 and was playing without Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine.
The Mavs will try to salvage this three-game road trip (on which they're 0-2) on Monday at the Portland Trail Blazers, which will be Dallas' final game of the calendar year.