Dallas Mavericks, Cooper Flagg open preseason at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth

FORT WORTH - Tonight, fans will get their first taste of the new Dallas Mavericks team in their first pre-season game.

The Mavericks are set to play the Oklahoma City Thunder at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.

From Lottery Win to Preseason Debut

The backstory:

The trajectory of this franchise changed back in early February, when superstar Luka Dončić was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Fast-forward to May 12, the trajectory of the Dallas Mavericks changed again, and this time, in the best way possible.

With a 1.8% chance of landing the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, the Mavs won the draft lottery, ultimately securing phenom from Duke University, Cooper Flagg, in June.

Big picture view:

The time has finally come for the 18-year-old native of Newport, Maine to make his much-anticipated preseason debut tonight against the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

This is the first time the Mavs will play at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth and you can expect that it will be packed out to see Flagg in a Dallas Mavericks jersey for the first time.

Flagg and the Mavs spent last week in Vancouver for training camp, but now they’re back where they will play the first of four preseason games.

Flagg and Teammates Discuss Skills and Fit

What they're saying:

There’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to Flagg’s skill set. He can play and defend multiple positions on the basketball court. FOX 4’s Sam Gannon sat down with Flagg at the Dallas Mavericks Media Day and asked him what he worked on most this summer.

"I've worked on a ton of different things, but just being comfortable, you know, expanding the floor and playing with more space. A lot of off the dribble stuff, shooting a lot of that stuff, just being ready to take the next step, and having a lot more space on the court," said Flagg.

Teammates are excited to see what exactly the rookie brings to the floor.

He can pretty much do everything on the floor. He's very versatile. He has good size, he can shoot the ball, he can play defense, and he can make the right play as well. So, I think he's going to fit in very good with our system and our group of guys," said Mavericks forward P.J. Washington.

"Obviously, he's very versatile. He can do a lot of things. His positional size is very good, and he’s obviously very young, and he picks up on things quickly. So, we're very happy as a team to be able to have him, and we're happy to be able to, you know, kind of implement him into our system as well. And I think he can obviously only add to that. There's no diminishing with him there. He's going to add to our offense and defense as well," said Mavericks guard, Max Christie.

Not Rushing the Rookie

Dig deeper:

Flagg is just 18-years-old and is stepping into a situation where he is not expected to take the reins and change everything with this franchise due to the number of veterans on the roster. 

Former NBA Champion and now teammate Anthony Davis talks about the pressure or lack thereof for Flagg in comparison to himself and Kyrie Irving.

"Kai and myself have been former number one picks. And now Cooper comes into a situation where there's not that much pressure on him, as it was for me and Kai to change the franchise, right? So he gets to come in, he gets to learn, he gets to just play basketball and let me, Kai, Klay filter out all the negativity or all the pressure, where he can just focus on hooping. We're excited to have him," said Davis.

What's next:

The Dallas Mavericks regular season tips off on October 22 against the San Antonio Spurs and the 2024 No. 1 overall pick, Victor Wembanyama.

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