Dallas Mavericks Provide Update on Cooper Flagg's injury

Former Duke Blue Devils' basketball standout Cooper Flagg is coming off a very impressive first season in the NBA. Flagg was named the NBA's Rookie of the Year, beating out former teammate Kon Knueppel for the honors. 

From the start of his professional career, Flagg showed his ability to be a legit scorer and use his size and athletic ability to be a mismatch for opponents. He wrapped up that first year averaging 21.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game. 

Now, going into his second year, Flagg is hoping to take his game up a level and improve on those numbers. But a hot start hit a road bump on Friday night. 

In the Dallas Mavericks' game against the Indiana Paces, Flagg took a hard hit and had to leave the game early. He was on a breakaway and was fouled by Aaron Nesmith. After the game, head coach Dusty May said that Flagg had soreness in his shoulder and would be evaluated in the coming days. 

Well, on Saturday we got some news on that injury. 

The MRI on Flagg's left shoulder revealed a mild sprain and he was ruled out for Saturday's game against the San Antonio Spurs. The good news is that it doesn't appear to be a major injury for Flagg that will require him to miss extended time. 

Resting him on Saturday and potentially a few more games gives him some time to heal that shoulder and make sure he's 100 percent. 

In his rookie season, Flagg missed 12 games due to various injuries. It's something that he hasn't really had to deal with up until then, so sitting out and missing time isn't always the most fun thing. 

Flagg did play 17 minutes and finished with  14 points, five rebounds, and six assists in the game, on pace for a triple-double. The performance came just two days after he scored 32 in the season opener to become the highest-scoring teenager in a season opener in league history. 

With Flagg out, former Duke star Kyrie Irving was able to help lead the Mavericks to victory. He scored 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting in the game. 

Dallas will hope to get Flagg back sooner rather than later, as they need to get off to a good start this season. Having their phenom back would certainly help that. 

The Mavericks will be in Miami to take on the Heat Monday night.