Former Duke basketball star Cooper Flagg’s first NBA points did not come until the second half of the Dallas Mavericks‘ season-opener against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.
Making the start at point guard, it looked like the the 18-year-old Flagg was going to get on the board almost immediately. He grabbed a steal on the Spurs’ opening possession and pushed his way up the court before finding Anthony Davis who lobbed it up for Flagg. The rookie couldn’t quite finish the alley-oop, narrowly missing what would’ve been a highlight-reel first basket.
Instead, Flagg finished the first half 0-for-2 from the field with six rebounds and two turnovers. His first NBA basket came on the first possession of the second half, a mid-range jumper from the top of the key.
Flagg, the sixth Duke basketball player to be selected as the top pick in the draft, finished the night with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds across 32 minutes as the Mavs dropped their season-opener to the Spurs, 125-92.
“Not great, obviously didn’t play incredibly well,” Flagg said to reporters following the game. “Gotta move past it, turn our focus and start looking toward Friday.”
Overall, it was a rough shooting performance for Flagg, who was 4-of-13 shooting on the night. After missing his two field goal attempts in the first half, he came out firing in the third quarter, going 4-of-11 from the floor and making three consecutive shots. It was the Spurs, though, who outscored the Mavs 65-41 across the second half.
“I though Cooper played within himself,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd told reporters following the game. “He took what the defense gave him. He was making plays, diving on the floor. He’s one that’s not going to go out there and just shoot it everytime he touches it, he tries to play the game the right way, and I thought he did that in the first half. I thought he was comfortable, came out there in the third and started to look to be aggressive, take some shots that he knocked down. I thought he played well. Now the stat line is not going to say that. … I think he, as a rookie, did fine, and he’s going to learn from this game. We all will.”
Instead, it was Victor Wembanyama, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, who stole the show behind a game-high 40 points on 15-of-21 shooting with 15 rebounds and three blocks.
Flagg and the Mavericks will be back in action against the Washington Wizards on Friday, Oct. 24 (8:30 p.m. ET).
Anna Snyder covers Duke for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com or follow her @annaesnydr on X, formerly known as Twitter.