Will Nico Harrison RISK TRADING for Ja Morant? | The Big “Issue” with Cooper Flagg | Dallas Mavs

Will Nico Harrison RISK TRADING for Ja Morant? | The Big “Issue” with Cooper Flagg | Dallas Mavs

On today’s show, no, the Dallas Mavericks should not go trade for John Marant, the disgruntled star of the Memphis Grizzlies. But will Nico Harrison be able to help himself? I don’t know if I can answer that one on today’s locked on maps. This is Cooper Flag and you’re listening to Locked on Maps. Don’t explain yourself. All these changes, you know, I still got my dog Dwight Pal. You are locked on reveal. Your daily Mavericks podcast of the locked on podcast network your team every day. I’m going to get a city right back and welcome. You’re locked on to the Dallas Mavericks. Your team every day. My name is Nick Angstead media member covering the maps for 10 years. Thanks for meeting every lockdown maps your first listen to Lockdown podcast network the number one sports podcast network. Thank you for helping us get there. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the game time app creating account. Use that code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. And joining me as always, my co-host, media member, cover the master for 10 years, right alongside me, the disembodied head homie, the one more thing king. What you got for me, Isaac Harris? I’m in need of trades. I’m in need I’m in need of trades. I’m just so ready to talk trades, man. This is It’s my favorite thing to do is speculate on trades. I spend way too much time. It’s like my wife’s asleep. I’m laying in bed. And I’m like, and she’s like, “Hey, can you are you going to go to sleep with me?” I’m like, “I’m on trade machine real quick.” Just I got to go through the Pelicans roster one more time. And Isaac loves when a guy has to move cities. Yes, we’re we’re we’re all about it. But the Dallas Mavericks and John Morant should not be a pairing that should happen. But we’ll talk about that. We’ll get into it. And uh we’ll also talk about Cooper Flag. I think we’ve we know one of the big pro the biggest problem with Cooper Flag right now and I don’t think it’s actually Cooper Flag himself. I also want to compare him to other 18-year-olds through six games in the NBA. And we’ll probably do this throughout the season and throughout his year, but uh I was kind of surprised when I went and saw the numbers, so we’ll talk about that a little bit. But let’s start here. John Morant is what you would call a classically disgruntled star in the NBA. He’s a I think he’s a star in the NBA. Whether he’s a star on the court right now is pro that’s probably not what you would call him, but he’s definitely a star figure in the NBA. John Morant has been a player that has been an all-star, has been a guy that has led to a a playoff series win where he I felt like he was leading that Memphis Grizzlies team where it was like one of those where everybody just get on my back and let let let’s go like everybody come behind me. Everybody else is like better because I’m on the court and because I am on this team. He felt like that kind of leader and I really liked that version of John Mor. We have not seen that version of John Morant in a little while and there has been some things where he’s been disgruntled with the coaching staff and with the offense and then that got Taylor Jenkins and his crew fired. Now a new crew has come in to this and John Morant was just suspended one game by the Memphis Grizzlies for comments detrimental to the team or or actions detrimental to the team that’s not new for John Mor. But I wanted to go through the some of the comments because this is what was asked of John Morant and he said this exact statement every single time. Go ask the coaching staff. He was asked what went wrong tonight and he said go ask the coaching staff. Like okay if maybe that’s your answer. Maybe you’re just upset about the game. That’s great. Second second one, is there anything you could do differently yourself? He said go ask the coaching staff. You’re like okay. The next one was from the outside it seems like you didn’t have your usual energy. And John Morant said go ask the coaching staff why. And then he was asked what could you have done to get a different outcome besides asking the coaching staff? And John Morant said, according to them, talking about the coaching staff, don’t play me. That was what their message was. And that is just like I have not heard a player call out a coaching staff as specifically and as overtly like that in a long time. And so now it has everybody spinning where they’re saying, “All right, well, is John Rain on the move? Can the Memphis Grizzlies continue with this? Do they fire another coaching staff and like heed to Jaw again and try and figure out whatever coaching staff will actually work with him or do they just move on? They’ve already moved on from Desmond Bane, got the four first round picks for him. They signed Jiren Jackson that huge deal. They’ve got him in tow for a while. They’ve got a lot of young guys on that team. Maybe they just do the full rebuild right now and try and and do that around J. And so it looks like they’re going to trade him. So that brings us to the Dallas Mavericks. Isaac, the Mavs need a point guard. Why would they not go get John Morant right now? There’s so many different directions I could go right now. Say, did you like that? I threw that up on a flash. I mean, you traveled down that path and then just lobbed it to me at the last moment. Um, that’s right. Here it is. No, I mean, of course, they got Kyrie that is supposed to come back. Um, who knows when. Um, but you know, I’ve been expecting end of February, 1st, and March the whole time for Kyrie. So, if they didn’t have Kyrie, I would be like, “Oh, dude, Nico is already driving up the Memphis right now.” That I mean it if they didn’t have Kyrie, am I am I still fully convinced that Nico’s not trying to like make phone calls? No. I don’t know what like I don’t think anybody could ever be surprised by Nico’s trades at this point, but I just don’t think it’s like a great fit. I mean, and if he was a better shooter and a little bit more reliable health-wise and stuff, I would I would almost be down because I’ve also been on this podcast saying, “Hey, you need two creators.” Like, you just desperately need two guys out there that can and Kyrie and Jaw just be like, “Oh my gosh, my brain’s like if if Jaw’s healthy.” But the thing about Jaw is yes, he’s he’s 26. He’s electric. He’s fun. uh when he’s, you know, playing it. What? You said he’s electric and I said boogie boogie woogie. Oh my gosh. Um but the thing about Jaw is like availability. It it’s it’s almost like beyond I think the availability part gets like like left out of the conversation a little bit because we focus on the quotes and like yeah his stats have kind of like went down over the past few years, but he hasn’t played over he’s played under 60 games three out of the last four seasons. So, it’s like I mean, how about how about 50 games last year, nine the year before that, 61 the year before that, and 57 the year before that. I mean, he’s not getting close to 70 80 games. Yeah. So, it’s more of that. I mean, you could go look at field goal percentages went down, three-point percentages went down. Um, he is a fun playmaker. He’s a good passer, you know, he he sets up his guys and um it’s just he’s he’s 6’2. I don’t know. I mean, it it just feels why I’m like kind of stumbling about it is because I’ve also been complaining about the lack of offense on this team for so long over these past like few months, even going back before the season started. And so, there’s a side of me that’s like, God, I just want somebody out there that can dribble a ball and like set up an offense. And if they traded for him tomorrow, you’d be like, “All right, like let’s have some fun with it. Hopefully, you can stay healthy and and all the stuff.” But it’s just with Kyrie coming back and all of that, I just the the contract is at 39 million. You get two more years after that, 42 45. So you’d be locking in this core of AD, Jaw, and and Kyrie. And uh that that sounds like the timeline to me. That sounds like the Blue Cross Blue Shield timeline. But here’s here’s the thing and why I started this show by saying, will Nico Harrison be able to help himself? John Morant is a disgruntled Nike athlete. Like not about Nike, he’s disgruntled about the Grizzlies. That is a player that Nico Harrison has historically gone after, right? And has historically made moves for. He had one player in Kyrie and yes, when the value was down, he took the risk and chance and traded a lower value for a guy like Kyrie. And I think that’s paid off really well. So yes, I I think be because Yeah. I mean, naturally, you’ve been looking across the league like everybody’s like, “Oh my gosh, what what is Jaw’s trade trade market right now? What is his trade value?” Like, what is, you know, you look at teams like like I joked about Brooklyn? It’s like if you’re Brooklyn, you don’t have anybody that’s the face of your franchise. Like, would you want to do that? And what would it cost? Just drafted four point guards. I think if you’re Memphis, then I mean, that was my prediction when the season was starting that Memphis would just blow it all up this year, but I think at some point he’s gone. So I think so too even before the comments. I think so too. I think it’s gonna I think it’s gonna depend on which team gives him a decent offer because right now like he is it’s it’s tough to say like damaged goods but like he is a distressed asset in in the in the sense that he is like a trade like a player to be traded. You don’t have to give up like you’re giving up picks though for him. So you’re giving up something like you’re you’re definitely giving up something for him. Um I I could just see like Madison’s be like a dude like his his values tank so bad then Clay and Gaffford and it’s like no it’s not it’s not that. So you would have to give up something of value. Yeah. I mean you’re looking at first you’re looking at Max and then you’re looking at some contracts and it could it be more? I don’t know. Like I don’t know if they’re if Houston calls and it’s like hey we want to do this. Is it multiple first round picks? is he I don’t I just don’t know what his value is right now, how teams view him, not just because of the contracts in this current situation, but the availability and he’s kind of like he’s not this he hasn’t been the same type of player as he was, you know, four years ago. No, I mean I I saw Kevin O’Connor post the stat that his at rim frequency, like his shots at the rim frequency has gone down every single season of his career. Started out at 49%. And last year it was 33% and I think this year it’s even lower than that. Like it has just gone down and that’s where he gets his damage done for the most part. It’s such a bummer too because I love watching Jaw play. Like he was so much fun. Uh I mean heck Nike made him a signature athlete which isn’t easy to do at all. There’s only you know a handful of those guys. And so I when he was on like it was a lot of fun. It just the past few years on the court stuff worries me and the durability and we already have AD and Kyrie to worry about. Well, and that’s let alone the off the court stuff with the guns and with the, you know, the videos and like the the whole thing with his dad and like the, you know, there’s all kinds of just weird stuff going on around him. And so then like we’ve just been talking about on the court like you add that to it. I just think it’s something the Dallas Mavericks shouldn’t shouldn’t get in get into that business right now. Will Nico Harrison be able to help himself? Probably. Like, I think there’s enough here to talk himself out of it to be like, “All right, this just isn’t a fit because he’s so invested in Kyrie.” And this team is so invested in Kyrie coming back. And they really wanted somebody that can play with Kyrie. And John Morant shooting under 30% from three the last three or four years of his career is not somebody I would say could play next to Kyrie for an extended period of time and expect to be very good. Even though the Mavs could use a John type right now, like they have to think about it a little bit longer term than than that. And I think that’s why for that reason, Shark Tank wise, I am out right now. Real quick, what’s the team that you think you go to? Sacramento because they’re God, he would be the dumping ground for every I want to say the Nets low-key underrated move would be Portland. You just scoot like you just gave up on Scoot. Scoot and Jeremy Grant. Put Jaw with Yeah, there’s the there’s the contract. Put Jaw with Drew Holiday, Damen Lillard, and just be like, “All right, let’s see what happens.” Yeah. Jaw and those young guys in Portland and stuff. It’ be fun. Shad Shaden Sharp and Kamara and the the uh John Morant and and Hansen Young. Is that like the two most different people that have ever played on a basketball team together? How are they different, Nick? One of them is is tall and like uh shy and the other one is not shy. Coming up, I we know the problem with Cooper flag and it has nothing to do with Cooper flag. We’ll tell you what it is coming up. [Music] Today’s episode of Locked on Mabs is brought to you by Robin Hood. Robin Hood.com/yyoumoney. Your ambition just met its match with Robin Hood. You play for the win, not just on game day, every day. locking in on every opening, beating your PR, beating it again. Channel that drive into your money. Robin Hood puts you in control of your money. Trade stocks and ETFs, options, futures, and even crypto, all on one platform. Now you can build and execute your own trades from a desktop with Robin Hood Legends advanced tools. Or take advantage of the new Robin Hood strategies with a tailored portfolio managed by a team of experts. You expect more from yourself. Expect more from your money. Get started today at robinhood.com/youmoney. Again, that’s robinhood.com/yyoumoney. Your money. your move. Also brought to you by friends over at Game Time. Basketball season is here and nothing beats getting in the arena even sometimes like if it’s a bad Mavs game like having the energy of the crowd and having everybody there and seeing the maniacs and seeing everything happening. Uh and seeing like they the Mavs have this group called the Breakers that do flips and stuff like uh there’s all kinds of fun stuff that happens around Mavs games and obviously basketball wherever you are. That’s where game time comes in. The app gives the fans the advantage. your ultimate life hack for scoring amazing NBA tickets fast, easy, and stressf free, even on your way to the arena. But watch out, some of them go up like real like real close to the they go down down down down and then there’s like a one window of time for some reason they go up. 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Uh, but shout out because a friend of mine sent a video of of Lockout Mass being played at Texas Live, which is cool because we’re on TV every day on KFA at 4:30. So, you can watch us on TV. I love when somebody comes up to me and it’s like, “Dude, I was scrolling through the uh the guide and all of a sudden it said locked on Mavs was was coming on TV.” Like, it says it on the guide. Like, that made me really excited the first time we saw that. Like, yes, it does, baby. Your grandma can watch us. Uh, and you can watch us on on the the rabbit ears and you’re not you don’t have to worry about it getting plucked from the you don’t have to wor get worried about it getting plucked from the service on like Disney with uh YouTube TV this weekend. They got two days before Dancing with the Stars. So, and then so many people are going to realize they can’t watch it. That’s going to be the real the real you watch that on on the ESPN unlimited or whatever the heck that new I don’t know what that is, but I think you can watch it on like Disney Plus live or It is kind of like a Disney Plus live. God, where have we gone? Where have we come from? Where do we go? Where do we come from? Um I I I literally went through three different apps the other night to find a certain game that I knew was on and I just like laughed once I got there cuz I I like I was on a freebie. I had too much pride to like actually look up the channel of it. I was like, you know what? I’m just going to like find the game. And I clicked on one. Then I went to another one. Then I was like, all right, well I’m getting there eventually. And I was just thinking about the people older than us that are really struggling right now. Yeah, absolutely. We want to talk about Cooper Flag because there’s been some complaining about Cooper Flag. We’ve seen that the haters about Cooper Flag. We’ve seen the well, he’s struggling. Oh, he’s just 18. Well, you guys are always taking up for for Cooper Flag, you know, all that. And we’ve we’ve gotten that. We got that with Brunson. We got that with Luca. We’ve gotten that with with everybody basically uh that’s been on the on the Mavericks. But I think there’s one thing that is the quote unquote problem with Cooper flag. Quote unquote air quotes I’m doing right now. You can’t hear air quotes. These are the air quotes. The Mavs don’t have like a a a point guard or don’t have like a point a point of attack like offensive player where taking the pressure off of some of these other guys and Cooper Flag has become that. And so in turn, this was something you and I were talking about yesterday, you brought up. Hey, he’s getting defended by some of the best players in the NBA. On the other side, uh Lou Dort defended him a bunch in that Thunder game. Kase Wallace defended him a bunch in that Thunder game. Aar Thompson defended him a bunch in that Pistons game. I’m sure Aman Thompson is going to defend him a bunch in this Rockets game coming up here on Monday. Uh add Pascosakum there. Add Stefon Castle from the from the Spurs there. Like, he’s been defended by some of the best players in the NBA because the Mavs don’t have anybody to take off any of the pressure from him. and you’re like, “Yeah, well, he he should be able to go against but like you shouldn’t expect your rookie to like to play against some of the best defenders in the NBA and be super successful right off the bat.” Yeah, that’s that’s why I’m not convinced like some of the people wanting to take shots at Cooper right now are not actually like watching them play because if they had Kyrie out there or they had another point guard out there that was um somewhat of a threat on offense to create and get their own shot and all that, then the primary defender on the other team would be guarding that guy, an Assar Thompson. OKC is a little different because they have literally two or three of those guys. um with Dort and Kase Wallace and Caruso, like they have, you know, Jaylen Williams, how I forget him. Like they have so many guys out there on the perimeter, they can switch and they’re all really really good defenders. But it’s like you’re going to get a backto-back dose of the Thompson brothers, like you said with Indiana. Um you got some N Smith, Seakman that game. Um that first game of the season, you’re getting Stfan Castle. Well, guess who’s getting Castle in most nights? the opposing like point guard who is the best player on the other team or um you know if Kyrie is out there he’s probably getting castle on him maybe um so that’s that’s just one of the things that it’s not just that Cooper is playing out of position and they don’t have another point guard uh on offense to initiate the offense and get the offense going and to set him up at times it’s he is playing out of position and getting the other teams like best defender And it’s just like I just I I the more and more the season goes on the more frustrating the more frustrated I get of man like you got you got that 1.8% chance and got this guy and I just feel like they’re just doing him a big disservice right now with the situation they put him in. Yeah, it’s that point. It’s the point that he’s playing out of position and he’s being he’s being challenged by some of the best defenders, you know, in the NBA and you don’t have another guard. Like imagine if you got Derrick Lively that that you you tank and you get Lively and you don’t have a Luca like you don’t have a pick and roll guy or or they try to play him out on the perimeter and like make him space the floor, you know? It’s like almost what they’re doing right now with this if they try to make Lively space the floor all the time in his rookie season. Yeah. Yeah. It’s like Yeah. you’re trying to play him in that way. And then add on to the fact that they’re trying this new offense, which part of me is like, all right, let’s let’s let’s wait on the results for this new offense because it seems like the whole team is having a hard time like getting getting accustomed to this offense. It’s not a pick and roll based offense where you’re like what everybody else runs. And so they’re trying this this Princeton style offense that you laid out really well in the episode the other day. I don’t know if I did it really well. I was just trying to point out the main differences between so we could at least see a few things on the floor. AD is the biggest the biggest I think the biggest reason why they wanted to switch to something like this. Yeah. And the lack of point guard because yeah technically don’t really need one to run that if it’s run well, but it doesn’t seem to be running well right now. Quote unquote air quotes. And so it’s like all three of those factors together I think is adding to this issue of like why does why isn’t Flag like is why isn’t he consistent? Why isn’t he like putting up putting up numbers all the time like why does he have these games where he scores two points, four points, whatever. And I think that I think that is one of the reasons and I think that’s a fair point. No. Yeah. I mean for sure. It’s like I I want to see him can we get Kyrie before 2026? Uh Jason Kid seems to think that that may be a possibility and so today a little bit later if you’re you’re listening watching this we’ll have a we’ll talk about that and talk about kids quote because that was absolutely wild. So stick around, subscribe, follow wherever you’re listening watching this. I I do want to see the this Houston game though if they they have a lot of length and I know Jabari Smith is questionable in this game but um they just have a lot of length out there with you know Tar East E that can play and obviously Alman Thompson and stuff. So I I want to see the what? And KD I mean Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so I Yeah. I want to see I’m assuming that they’re going to put a man in on him a lot and just be up in his grill again. He’s like, “Dude, I literally just played you the other night. Did you just change jerseys?” And like Yeah, that that is going to be a tough one for sure. But we’ll have the postgame right here for you after that game and we’ll we’ll see what what happens to the Mavericks on that. Coming up, I want to talk about Cougar Flag compared to other 18-year-olds through their first six games because I was surprised by some of the things I saw. I’ll talk about that coming. [Music] Today’s episode of Lock Maps brought to you by Rouia. Let’s be real, making excuses doesn’t solve anything. It may sound like we’re making excuses for Cooper Flag, but you’ve all heard them before with personal things. I’m stressed. I’m tired. It happens every to everyone sometimes when it comes to performance. Sometimes your body just needs just need a little extra support. That’s where Rouette comes in. Rui.com offers fast acting. I I told you about the the humming on the like when you’re not on screen when to do this ad. Run.com offers fast acting doctor prescribed ED uh treatments designed to help you stop taking excu stop making excuses and start making moves. Rugier makes it easy to get started. You can connect with the board certified doctor 100% online. No awkward waiting rooms. No inperson appointments. It’s about confidence connection and getting back to the moments that matter. Confidence. If you’re prescribed, your treatment ships discreetly straight to your door. That’ll give you That’ll give you confidence right there. Roui rug git.com/lock.nba to get 15% off your first order. That’s rougat rug.com/locknba. Don’t forget to use the code. It’s locked. NBA all one word. Rouette. Stop making excuses. Start making moves. Shut it down. Let’s go home. [Music] All right, Isaac. Let’s talk about Cooper Flag. I’ve seen some people disappointed in Cooper Flag, saying, “Ah, he’s just going to be a role player. I don’t know what you guys see in him.” All all this kind of stuff. And I’ve seen a lot of people say like he I’ve seen some people say like he’s the reason why the Mavericks are struggling right now if he was better than blah blah blah. No, come on. That is a tough take for me to to to try and and parse through. Would the Mavericks be better if he was scoring 35 a game right now? Same can be said about Klay Thompson. For sure. But is he one of the top three to four reasons why that they’re really struggling? No. And so I started to go through and I was like, “All right, I think I think Tim Ko texted in our group our group chat that we have with our friends over at DLS. They were like he was like, “Yeah, the 18-year-old should be better.” And you’re like, it really puts it in perspective every time you bring up 18-year-old. He’s the youngest player in the NBA. So what did he look like compared to some other young players in the like young the youngest players in the NBA at the time? other 18-y olds that have come into the league. Oh, you got the intern on the graphic. I got the intern to do the graphic and I went through and LeBron James, Cooper Flag, Dwight Howard, Giannis, Trace McGrad, and Kobe Bryant were some of the notable recent ones that I I started to go through. Fairly recent, I guess. Cooper Flag has more points, double the points basically, that Dwight Howard did, that Giannis did, that Trace McGrady did, that Kobe Bryant did through six games. Cooper Flag has scored 83 points through six games. Kobe Bryant scored 20. He had eight. Kobe Bryant had eight rebounds through six games. Cooper Flag has had 39. And it’s not that Kobe Bryant wasn’t playing either. Kobe Bryant was playing here and there. He Kobe Bryant shot 33% from the field, 25% from three through his first six games. Cub Flag is shooting 37% and 28% from field goal in three. LeBron leads everybody obviously with 101 points through his first six games, 46 rebounds, 42 assists. Like he was absolutely lapping the field. He was just something we’ve never seen as an 18-year-old. He was just head and shoulders above. And I think LeBron being as good as he was at 18 has changed what everybody thinks an 18-year-old should actually be. All these guys struggled. Giannis through his first six games as an 18-year-old. He was 18 his first year in the NBA. 30 points, 12 rebounds, one assist through six games. Like just these guys struggled in in a lot of different ways. They struggled to find their way in the NBA, struggled against the physicality. Like all these 18-year-olds have struggled and we’re seeing it right now with Cooper Flag. And I know that we got to have it now. He’s got to look ready right now. And I know one of the reasons is because Mavs fans just want hope. Like they just just give me hope and just give me something to latch on to that’ll be that’ll take me away from from all this gestures to gestures to lots of things. But it may take a little bit of time with with Cooper Flag to like really become the player that you you want him to be. But he’s already better than a and tracking a lot better than a lot of the 18-year-olds that we’ve seen so far. Yeah. If you go back to I remember a mo moment, it was late 2023 um when he decided to reclassify and it was a huge deal. You know, he’s been one of those prospects that that you follow through the class where like it it’s undoubted like he’s the number one prospect. He’s like, “All right, well, you knew this like Cooper flag draft is going to be in in 2026.” So, in 2023, he reclassifies to where he’s going to go to college early and he’s going to graduate high school early and then go to college early super young when he’s 17. And because, you know, he was he did this interview um to where he he threw out that quote and he threw out this quote multiple times, but it’s the quote that his his mom always told him of, “Hey, when you’re the best player in the gym, you need to find a new gym.” And that was kind of like his one of his biggest reasons for reclassifying up and skipping that senior year of of high school. So, age-wise, he should be a freshman in in college right now. So, um, he should be gearing up to start a u a freshman season at Duke or, you know, whatever college and stuff and as college basketball is about to start back up and stuff. So, it’s it’s not an excuse, but it’s just a reminder of we’re kind of past the or we are we are past the jump from like high school to uh to the NBA. And I mean, heck probably ages us now. There’s, you know, we’re we’re kind of there of like, hey, I remember the day when high schoolers could be jumped to the NBA. Like if we remember when Kobe came in league or Kevin Garnett or Dwight Howard, remember when Dwight Howard came in the league and it’s like these guys jumped straight from high school to the NBA and Cooper Flag obviously couldn’t do that, but the age-wise of it is basically the same. So, uh, it’s crazy and and it’s also crazy that he ended up going to college when he was 17 and he won all these awards and was the best player in college basketball at the age of 17. So, yeah, he’s he’s a young pup. As as another media member told me the other night, they’re like, “Hey, his uh his goatee doesn’t even connect yet.” All right. So, he’s he’s a pretty young kid. That could be said for a lot of us, but but it’s going to take a he’s going to figure it out. I I also believe like he’s gonna he’s gonna figure it out. He it took him a little bit in college, too. He still had he still had numbers, but it took him a little bit to become like the national player of the year in college, too. And I think the NBA is going to be the same thing. And then you add all the other things we talked about before in in the last part where we talked about how he’s playing out of position. He’s going against the best defenders and he’s like playing in this offense of the Mavs themselves. Like all these vets are still trying to figure out too. There’s just a lot of factors right now. a lot of things that I didn’t account for really going into the season that this offense would be harder than it seems like for them. Uh the injuries so early in the season I guess didn’t even really think of there’s just so many different little and then the worst thing is the defense being worse than we expected and I think that has affected everything where if the Mavericks defensively would be would be better or more reliable then maybe this is a different conversation. There’s two 18-year-olds in the NBA right now. Do you know the other one off the top of your head? The other 18-year-old in the NBA, I don’t expect you to know it. It’s Behinger in Minnesota. Oh, yeah. Dude, he’s Baron J. Baron J. Baron. Dude, he’s he’s fun. Super athletic, big and everything. I liked him in the draft, but um yeah, I mean, Cooper Flag’s legit the youngest player in the NBA. So I should know that because they were both of them were at the same station at the NBA draft and so like Cooper Flag was coming up next and Yan Baron Jay went to his station and there was like 40 people around his station and he was like wideeyed looking around like are all these people here for me? And then he like didn’t really speak English that well so he was having a translator and like like and all that stuff and then he was like what is going on? Why are all these people? and everybody was just kind of waiting around and then Cooper Flag came and then like 40 more people joined. They’re not here for me. But they’re the two 18-year-olds that were they were there in the same spot. I’ve said this on multiple shows over the past week or so. I’m not worried about Cooper Flag at all. Like no, just at all. I’m almost like more impressed with him. um which is there there’s a lot of intangible things that he does well that that’s the type of stuff that feels like takes players a long time to pick up of just like spots to be in or just different things he sees on the floor or like the speed of the game the speed of the game doesn’t look too fast for him uh and all that. So, like there’s a lot of that stuff. I’m like, dang. Like, once you once some roster stuff happens around you and you start getting maximized and utilized in a way that is really good, like he’s going to start popping or the roster just gets so injured that it pairs down all these issues that it just like puts him in the right position because AD is out, Derek Lively’s out, Kyrie is out, Exum is out for this game against the Rockets. And yeah, I mean, we’ll see what else happens, but we’ll have the post game for you tomorrow. Thanks for hanging out with us here on Locked on Ms. We’ll have more. Check the QR code links in the description for different ways to follow the show. Thanks much for listening to Locked on Mavs. Peace out. Boom. The rockets red flag.

Should the Dallas Mavericks trade for Ja Morant, or focus on the future with Cooper Flagg, Anthony Davis, and Kyrie Irving in a challenging NBA season? Dive into the trade rumors, player comparisons, injury updates, and the evolving state of the Mavs roster as they take on key decisions in their quest for success.

Nick Angstadt and Isaac Harris break down the Dallas Mavericks’ situation in the NBA, evaluating Nico Harrison’s role, the potential fit of Ja Morant, and the impact of stars like Klay Thompson, Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington, and Jason Kidd. The hosts discuss Cooper Flagg’s development and compare him to other 18-year-old NBA players, including LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Tracy McGrady, and Kobe Bryant. The episode also discusses recent Mavs games, including matchups against the Memphis Grizzlies, Brooklyn Nets, Sacramento Kings, and Portland Trail Blazers, while considering what moves Mark Cuban and Patrick Dumont may be weighing for the franchise’s future.

Catch all the latest Mavs news, deep analysis, injury updates, and insider perspectives from Locked On Mavs as the Dallas Mavericks navigate another pivotal NBA season.

0:00 Ja Morant Trade Rumors & Mavs Fit
14:08 Cooper Flag’s Rookie Challenges
23:08 Comparing Cooper Flag to Other 18-Year-Olds

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