MEXICO CITY – The Dallas Mavericks have not exactly gotten off to a hot start to their 2025-26 NBA regular season, starting their current campaign with losses to the San Antonio Spurs and Washington Wizards, then split the rest of their games played so far this season.
A fair amount of that losing was of course sparked by the absence of several important players early in the season, including Kyrie Irving, Derek Lively II, Anthony Davis, and Dante Exum, just to name a few. But an interesting strategy used by head coach Jason Kidd has also played a role, though Kidd recently shared with Rookie Wire the reasoning why it makes sense for the Mavs long-term. The Dallas coach is having 2025 No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg function as the team’s point guard to start the season.
That strategy has come under criticism in some corners, but Kidd broke down why he has stuck with this approach despite some early turbulence stemming from Flagg taking on the point despite never playing the position before.
“There’s a couple of things behind him (manning the point),” said Kidd. “One is our health. Coming out of training camp, we had a lot of injuries, so (his) being able to handle the ball. The other part of handling the ball is being able to handle the pressure.”
“When April comes around, we plan for something greater. So just to have that experience, I think, early on here is a blessing, and I think it will only help him in this marathon. It will help us have another ball handler that can make decisions on the floor once we get healthy.”
And while one would be forgiven for doubting the viability of something greater for Dallas in April after seeing how they have started, adding primary playmaking to Flagg’s already-capacious palate certainly won’t hurt his ceiling as a player.