The San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks for the second time this season, and Victor Wembanyama offered some ironic advice to Cooper Flagg after the game.
The first time the San Antonio Spurs got a regular-season look at Cooper Flagg, he was not at his best. In the October showdown between the Spurs and Mavericks, Flagg made only three baskets on the way to a very inefficient ten-point, ten-rebound debut.
On Thursday, the Spurs beat the Mavericks 135-123, but Flagg looked like a different player entirely. He scored 32 points, nabbed six rebounds, dished out four assists, swatted three shots, and racked up two steals.
The Mavericks are behind the Spurs in the standings, but Flagg and Victor Wembanyama are the future of the NBA.
After beating the Mavericks, Wembanyama offered some advice to the rookie.
Wembanyama Offers Flagg Advice
Like most teams that land the first overall pick, the Mavericks are not very good. When the Spurs drafted Wembanyama in 2023, they were one of the worst teams in the NBA. It's just the nature of being a top young player.
Unlike the present-day Mavericks, however, the Spurs had a clear vision. This year, Dallas was expected to make the playoffs, led by Flagg, Anthony Davis, and Kyrie Irving.
Davis has been traded, and Irving has yet to play this year. Dallas is 12th in the West. Wembanyama knows what it's like to be a top rookie on a losing team, and he had some guidance for Flag.
"The truth is that you can't make anything happen in the moment," Wemby said after the game. "You can't make everything happen just like this. Winning, not winning, it is going to come. You have to trust your organization, and that's my opinion. And in the meantime, waiting to win, what I try to do, what we try to do is do everything we can while trusting the process, trusting that we're getting better, that we're getting more mature."
Telling Flagg to trust the organization might not be the most sensitive comment. Historically, the Spurs have boasted the best front office in the NBA. The Mavericks, meanwhile, traded away franchise centerpiece Luka Doncic for nothing.
Even as Dallas tries to undo the damage from that trade, why should Flagg have faith or trust in the front office?
Wembanyama went on to praise the player Flagg is and will turn into, but there's pressure on the Mavericks to build the best roster possible around him. The work starts now.
"Not a typical profile of a player to guard, so not an easy guy to guard and not an easy guy to score on either, offensively," offered Wemby.