The Dallas Mavericks are wrapping up a tumultuous 2025, skidding to the finish line in ever-dramatic fashion. The hope would be clarity for a 2026 focused on a future surrounding rookie phenom Cooper Flagg, and putting away the baggage this year has accumulated.
The focus of this week’s Power Rankings Watch, in a way, is about that very thing. Watch a Mavericks game for a five minute stretch and it’s obvious, even with a healthy Anthony Davis (a rarity), that Flagg is their most dynamic player on both
ends of the floor. He still has plenty to figure out as he adapts to the league. But the foundation of his game is already flourishing. Whether that accumulates more wins than losses this season remains to be seen. But his development is the team’s most prized possession, and reason for plenty of hope in the new year.
ESPN
Ranking: 21
Last week: 19
Young riser: Cooper Flagg
No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg, who turned 19 over the weekend, is living up to the hype. LeBron James is the only player who had similar production as an 18-year-old as Flagg, who played out of position as a point guard to start the season. Since shifting to his natural forward position, Flagg has averaged 20.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists while shooting 50.5% from the floor. He’s the only rookie to rank in the top three in his class in scoring, rebounding, assists, blocks and steals. — MacMahon
NBA
Ranking: 19
Last week: 19
The Mavs have wins over the Nuggets, Rockets and Pistons this month, having edged Detroit in overtime on Thursday. But that win was sandwiched by losses in Utah and Philadelphia, and they remain in the bottom five in the West.
Three takeaways
- The Mavs have now played 22 clutch games, and their late-game possessions are mostly running through Cooper Flagg. He was just 3-for-13 on clutch shots last week, but that included two huge buckets in the final minute of regulation against the Pistons.
- There have been seven games this season where the winning team made just five (or fewer) 3-pointers. The Mavs are the only team with two of those seven wins, with the second being their overtime victory over the Pistons on Thursday, when Detroit was just 6-for-33 from deep. But they couldn’t overcome making just only three 3s (on 18 attempts) in Philadelphia two nights later. Over their last five games, the Mavs have taken just 27% of their shots from 3-point range and shot just 28% from beyond the arc.
- Danté Exum and Dereck Lively II are out for the season, but for the last two games, the Mavs have been as healthy as they’re going to get until Kyrie Irving returns. Their latest starting lineup — Ryan Nembhard, Naji Marshall, Flagg, P.J. Washington and Anthony Davis — was terrific (plus-25 in 21 total minutes) in the two games, but bench minutes were an issue. On Thursday, the Pistons began the fourth quarter on a 22-6 run. Two nights later, the Sixers started the fourth on a 24-7 run.
The Athletic
Ranking: 21 (Tier 4: Not the Tier to Fear)
Last week: 18
The Big Question, revisited: Can Cooper Flagg make up for Dallas’ guard deficit?
The Mavericks tried to use Flagg as a point guard to begin the season. He’s not a point guard. Then they tried free agent acquisition D’Angelo Russell. That didn’t work. Brandon Williams got his shot. Dallas went 2-7 in Williams’ starts. The Mavericks were the league’s worst offense when they gave two-way contract rookie Ryan Nembhard the starting job, which coincided with Anthony Davis’ return from injury. That has resulted in a 6-4 record for Dallas, including wins over Denver, Miami, Houston and Detroit. It has also resulted in Flagg averaging 24.0 points despite nonexistent 3-point accuracy (16 percent) over the last 10 games.
Bleacher Report
Ranking: 20
Last week: 18
In his one season at Duke, Cooper Flagg averaged 16.3 points and shot 42.1 percent from the field in his first 12 games. From that point to the end of the season, he averaged 20.5 and shot 51.1 percent from the field.
Now, in the NBA and against stiffer competition, he’s on a similar developmental trajectory.
In his first 10 games as a Dallas Maverick, Flagg put up 13.9 points and made 40.3 percent of his shots. Since then, he’s averaging a team-high 22.0 points, while shooting 52.6 percent from the field. He’s also adding 6.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.0 blocks.
There was little doubt the Duke product would get better over the course of his first NBA campaign, but the upward slope he’s on is steeper than even his strongest believers could have imagined.
At this point, it feels like All-NBA contention could be in play within the next couple years.
