While The Ringer forecasts a legendary sophomore leap for Cooper Flagg, a bleak preseason ranking suggests the rebuilt Mavericks remain miles away from true championship contention.
Do you, Dallas Mavs fan, want the good news or do you want the bad news offered via the perspective of the respected national media outlet "The Ringer''?
The good news? They offer some glowing praise of Cooper Flagg and where his career might be headed after the 19-year-old's Rookie of the Year campaign in 2025-26.
The bad news? No matter how high he flies, they don't think it's going to make much of a difference for Dallas. might be the best team in the NBA.
Via The Ringer's Preseason Power Rankings, we have at our fingertips what I think is probably a fairly typical forecast for the Mavs and for their best player.
Writes "The Ringer'' about Flagg ...
"I know it’s only September, but more people should be having conversations about Cooper Flagg’s second season. What’s the ceiling here? An All-Star with league-average true shooting? An All-NBA member who averages 27-8-6? Will any embarrassingly premature, albeit sort of respectable, MVP votes be cast in his honor?''
Lofty, right?
The Ringer continues ...
"Despite having some real roster-related obstacles, Flagg displayed truly special qualities as a rookie whose statistical output was prioritized ahead of winning games—which is fine and made enough sense for where Dallas was.''
Then comes a piece of speculation about the team's No. 2 star remaining in Dallas, with The Ringer noting, "If Kyrie Irving isn’t traded, this year could be very different. The Mavericks are younger and faster and have more complementary pieces (like Santi Aldama) who can accelerate Flagg’s development.''
But wait.
If things "could be very different,'' why is Dallas ranked at just slot No. 23?
I'm not trying to stump for the Mavs as an immediate turn-around candidate; they are coming off an awful 26-win campaign ... and they are rebuilding from the top on down.
They have remodeled the front office, loaded up the roster with an interesting blend of forwards, and hired top college coach Dusty May to truly begin the Flagg Era.
Cool, but we don't know how will it all pan out.
Yes, Dallas' offseason business has largely been met with a good approval rating with fans (though, Nico Harrison's actions couldn't have been lower in the court of public opinion).
New president Masai Ujiri is a seasoned NBA exec who has won at the highest level. He brought an experienced scout to take over as general manager in Mike Schmitz. And May's resume to this point is stellar.
But "The Ringer'' is offering a fair combo review here. The Mavs right now promise to be more "interesting'' than "good' ... because being the No. 23 team in the NBA isn't very good.
