Jason Kidd, a former Rookie of the Year in his own right, lauded the newest Mavs rookie to win the award.
Cooper Flagg became the third Dallas Mavericks player to win the Rookie of the Year award on Monday after leading all first-year players with 21.0 points per game and finishing in the top five among rookies in most stat totals for the season.
Flagg narrowly beat out Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel, his former roommate at Duke last season, to win the award.
Last year's No. 1 overall pick said he was "blessed" to receive the honor. At 19 years old, he became the second-youngest player in league history to win the award, behind only LeBron James.
Mavericks legends Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki were among those who offered their congratulations to the new face of the Mavericks franchise.
Kidd, who is now the Mavs head coach after he shared the award with Grant Hill in the 1994-95 season as a member of the team, offered a beaming endorsement to Flagg after the news broke.
"Thrilled to see Cooper Flagg recognized with the NBA Rookie of the Year award," Kidd said on X/Twitter. "Your feel for and commitment to the game are truly special. Congratulations and enjoy this moment. This is just the beginning."
While his first season in the NBA didn't result in much competitive basketball for the 26-56 Mavs, Flagg said the adversity helped him learn about himself as a player, knowledge that he'll carry for the rest of his career.
"You talk about pressure and things like that, this season, it was a lot different going into it than what I was expecting and how the season ended up turning out," he told the Peacock streaming network after the announcement. "Dealing with that on the fly, adjusting and kind of getting thrown in the fire right away like that helped me long term and getting more comfortable. I’ve grown my game. I feel I grew in a lot of different areas throughout the year."
It began with Flagg starting the year at point guard, the position Kidd spent his Hall of Fame career in and one Flagg had never experienced, let alone in the best league in the world.
Shortly thereafter, Kidd moved Flagg to his more natural position on the wing. Then history happened.
Flagg finished the season averaging 21 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.2 steals. Those numbers put him alongside Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Luka Doncic as the only rookies since the ABA-NBA merger to average at least 20 points, six rebounds and four assists in the same season.
He led Dallas in all four major statistical categories, joining him with Jordan in 1985 as the only rookies in NBA history to do that. Flagg credits Kidd's trust and basketball IQ for helping him flourish.
"First of all, J-Kidd is the ultimate players’ coach," the rookie said. "He was there for me from Day One. We started building that relationship. It starts with him knowing the game at an extremely high level. He reads the game at an incredible level.
"Having that and learning from him and him putting me in the right spots, it helped me learn a lot about the game really quick."
"I knew he was a great player coming in, but what he’s (done) this year has been amazing," said teammate P.J. Washington. "I don’t think anybody thought he was going to be like this. He’s a generational player. He can do pretty much everything out there."
