Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg is preparing for his first NBA season in an unusual way: through a video game. The 18-year-old forward, taken No. 1 overall in this year’s draft, has been using the newly released NBA2K26 to simulate how he might fit alongside Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis. With training camp still weeks away, Flagg has looked for early chemistry by experimenting with virtual lineups that mirror his new team.

Ronnie Singh, widely known as Ronnie2K and the public face of the NBA 2K franchise, said Flagg is one of the first players to treat the game as a serious tool for preparation.

“I’ve been talking to Cooper Flagg a lot the last couple of weeks, and he’s already trying to shape up how he’s going to fit into that team by playing the NBA2K26 game with him, integrated with Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis,” Singh told HeavySports at the game’s launch event in New York. “He might not get to play with Kyrie for a minute, so it’s kind of cool that he gets to simulate that, see how the off-the-ball movement is. Our AI is so good. It really simulates the authentic experience of being on the court.”

Singh noted that NBA players often excel in the game even without much practice, leaning on the same instincts that serve them in real competition.

“I play a lot of NBA players that don’t get to play 2K all the time, and they’re inherently good at the game already because they have a natural instinct of how their teammates are going to move. They see it every day in practice,” Singh said.

Flagg won't share the floor with Irving immediately as the veteran guard recovers from an ACL injury, but the Mavericks expect their new rookie to make an immediate impact after trading Luka Dončić this summer. Flagg impressed in Summer League with averages of 20.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks in 31.4 minutes.

His rating in NBA2K26 reflects that promise. At 82 overall, he was ranked the top rookie and 79th among all players in the game. Flagg also arrives with a decorated résumé from Duke, where he averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists while leading the Blue Devils to the Final Four and sweeping national player of the year awards.

With his combination of skill and maturity, Flagg has already given Dallas reasons to believe he will be ready from the start.