Cooper Flagg has been a winner all throughout his basketball journey, that is, except on the Dallas Mavericks.
In his first year as a pro, the NBA rookie won’t even see 30 wins, and it’s not something that he’s accustomed to. In fact, in a recent chat on ‘The Young Man & The Three,’ Flagg opened up on the full experience, detailing the mental battles he endured while losing like he never has before.
“It’s definitely tough, like there were times in the start of the year where it was taking a big toll on me, not personally but mentally,” said Flagg. “I don’t want to talk for anybody else, but it’s definitely tough. Family’s freaking out like my mom, especially, like she hadn’t been in or seen me lose that much before, so she’s worried about me, and then it’s just like you’re trying to move on each night, but it’s tough.”
During his freshman season at Duke, Flagg won the Wooden Award, Naismith Award, and Oscar Robertson Trophy, becoming the first ever to do so. He took his team to the Final Four before signing with the Mavericks a few months later. While he knew Dallas wouldn’t be competing for the title, he didn’t know just how dark things would get for them this season.
“You got to learn how to lose I think and learn how to take positives away and know that you might have another one tomorrow or you get one day and you got another one the next day so I think that was a big learning curve for me was just learning how to lose and how to bounce back a little bit quicker and kind of get over it quicker than previous,” Flagg added. “I mean, we lost four games last year in college, and every time we lost, we had four or five days in between to go through all the film, you know, you start working on drills from the game, like different things that you have to work on. So, it’s just definitely a different feeling, and you’ve got to learn how to lose. For sure.”
Without Luka Doncic, Anthony Davis, or really any leading star, it fell on Cooper Flagg to fill that role. With averages of 20.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game on 46.7% shooting and 27.8% shooting from three, he outperformed most pre-season expectations, but it was hardly enough to make the Mavericks competitive.
Between the lack of star-power, major injuries, and poor morale all around, it’s been a season from hell for the Mavericks, and it wasn’t easy for Cooper. Still, he learned how to keep his joy amid the struggles, and it has helped him grow more as a leader, athlete, and competitor.
It’s anyone’s guess what comes next in Dallas, but they owe it to Flagg to build a team that’s worthy of his talent. He clearly has the heart of a champion, and he has the talent to be the face of his team for years to come. Unfortunately for him, things could get uglier before they get better, and it will push his patience to the limit.
