The minority franchise owner is calling for action on the handling of Dallas Mavericks' rookie sensation Cooper Flagg and his treatment by officiating.
Dallas Mavericks star Cooper Flagg is enjoying a sensational rookie campaign, with the franchise cornerstone recording 83 points in his last two contests. His 49-point performance against the Charlotte Hornets was the highest-scoring outing by a teenager in the NBA, and his 50 paint points against the Hornets and Houston Rockets are the most by a rookie in a two-day span in the play-by-play era, per ESPN. The 19-year-old superstar is also enjoying, if you will, the rookie treatment experience in the league when it comes to officiating – or lack thereof.
Mavs coach Jason Kidd criticized referees for a “terrible” missed foul call against the Rockets, and the rookie sensation simply isn’t getting any calls his way. It’s nothing new in the NBA. It’s nothing new to Dallas, who watched this happen to Dirk Nowitzki and Luka Doncic. But minority owner Mark Cuban is calling for action on social media, attacking the ref’s approach to calling games and ignoring Flagg, asking for fans to tag the official NBA referee account every time there’s an obvious no-call.
Here is the full story from Mavs Roundtable writer Mike Fisher on Cuban’s call to action for fans to help their rookie star.
With the record paint points scored by Flagg, the physicality of those buckets just hasn’t matched the foul total. Flagg is averaging an absurd 4.5 free throw attempts per game. It’s clear the rookie superstar has no plans to back down, and it’s clear based on history that the calls will eventually come his way – he just might need to wait for his sophomore season.