How Cooper Flagg is preparing for NBA Summer League ahead of Mavericks meeting

After spending some time back in Maine, Cooper Flagg and his longtime player development coach Matt MacKenzie are out in Los Angeles with a focus on preparing for the NBA’s Summer League.

Flagg is all but guaranteed to be the first overall pick in the upcoming NBA draft, and will head to Dallas next week for a meeting with the team in control of that first selection.

MacKenzie doesn’t expect that June 17 meeting, first reported by ESPN, to include a formal workout — with the meeting serving as more of an opportunity for Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks organization to get to know each other.

“There’s no formal workout scheduled at this point,” MacKenzie told the Bangor Daily News on Monday. “They may have him, you know, throw some workout clothes on and go through some things just as a formality. But as of right now it’s really just a meeting in Dallas — an opportunity to learn more about the organization, with two feet on the ground in Texas.”

MacKenzie said Flagg is excited to meet with the coaching staff and front office in Dallas, while trying to stay in the moment and enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime draft process.

As MacKenzie helps Flagg train in California, the focus is getting the consensus number one pick ready for the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, which will get underway in July and typically features NBA rookies and other young players along with those from the developmental G League.

“At this point we’re really just gearing him up, getting him ready for Summer League, and he’s gonna have to be in playing shape at that point,” MacKenzie said. “So we’re just kind of working in a lot of different NBA actions, different shots that I think he’ll see at the next level, and making sure that his conditioning is on point and his shooting and his skill work is as refined as possible.”

Flagg will head into the NBA after an objectively fantastic freshman season at Duke University, where he led the team in all five major statistical categories and won nearly all of the national player of the year honors en route to a Final Four appearance.

The Dallas Mavericks got an improbable gift in the NBA draft lottery by winning the first overall pick, and ESPN has reported that they plan to accept that gift and select Flagg when the draft kicks off on June 25. Flagg is the only prospect the Mavs are meeting with like this, according to ESPN, and the same is true for Flagg. MacKenzie said Monday that Flagg doesn’t have any other team visits scheduled.

MacKenzie expects the trip to Dallas to feature a more in-depth meeting than the ones Flagg had with teams during the NBA draft combine in May.

“It will give him a chance to tour the city and to tour all their facilities, and just kind of learn a little bit about the front office and the coaching staff and some of the team personnel,” MacKenzie said. “There will be a little bit more to that meeting and time spent in Dallas than the short, brief meetings that he had at the combine.”

After spending last week in Maine, Flagg is back training at the same facility in Los Angeles where they prepared for the combine, according to MacKenzie. That preparation has included some interaction at the facility with NBA veterans like Chris Paul and Kevin Durant, and the opportunity to be around other professionals has given Flagg a chance to “continue to work on his craft among some of the best in the world,” MacKenzie said.

The preparation in Los Angeles will continue until Flagg heads to Dallas for next week’s meeting, said MacKenzie, who has studied film of the Mavericks and several other NBA teams to better understand how Flagg might fit in — recognizing that Flagg’s eventual destination in the NBA isn’t certain until he is drafted and joining his eventual team.

If Flagg were to wind up in Dallas, as the team has increasingly signaled is likely, MacKenzie sees Flagg fitting in well with the existing roster.

“If he were to play for a team like the Dallas Mavericks, I could certainly see him working well off of the current core that they have on their roster,” MacKenzie said. “They have a good combination of size, shooting and playmaking.”

The Mavs’ lineup includes former NBA champions Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis and Clay Thompson.

“I could see him being somebody who could come right in and help them a lot on both ends of the floor,” MacKenzie said. “His offensive and defensive versatility is something that I feel like helps any team in the NBA win. But with Dallas or a team like Dallas, his ability to get the ball right off the rim, push the ball in transition, and be somebody who can facilitate the basketball to their other stars, I think could work out in his favor right away.”

MacKenzie thought Flagg “would enjoy playing for a team like that” along with playing for an experienced coach like the Mavericks’ Jason Kidd.

“And so if he’s fortunate enough to be drafted by that team, I think that he’ll be able to make his impact felt right away,” MacKenzie said.