{"id":625934,"date":"2026-02-26T12:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/625934\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:21:12","slug":"southwest-notes-bagley-flagg-coward-plumlee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/625934\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Notes: Bagley, Flagg, Coward, Plumlee"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the announcement<\/a> that Kyrie Irving<\/a> would not play this year, the rest of the Mavericks\u2019 season is expected to function as something of a fact-finding mission, Mike Curtis writes for the Dallas Morning News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dallas has five players set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer, and one player who is drawing enough attention to warrant long-term consideration is Marvin Bagley III<\/a>, who was a part of the Anthony Davis<\/a> trade<\/a> between the Mavs and Wizards.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a really good player,\u201d coach Jason Kidd said. \u201cHe\u2019s a grown-up and understands the NBA game a little bit. Sometimes it takes time. We all want it to happen overnight. I think the coaching staff, the media, everyone that\u2019s been on this road trip or with him, has made him comfortable and you can see the way he\u2019s playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bagley has averaged 13.5 points and 8.8 rebounds in six games as a reserve, and has three double-doubles in that span. Curtis points to the 26-year-old\u2019s energy on the glass as a major factor in his success. Bagley is averaging 3.7 offensive rebounds with the Mavs and is a different archetype of big man than their two centers, Dereck Lively II<\/a> and Daniel Gafford<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Curtis writes that Bagley has yet to find a franchise that will commit to him, but a deal to keep him in Dallas as a reserve center could be mutually beneficial.<\/p>\n

We have more from around the Southwest Division:<\/p>\n

Cooper Flagg<\/a> remains out for the Mavs\u2018 game against the Kings on Thursday, Curtis notes (via Twitter<\/a>). This will mark the fifth absence in a row for Flagg, who is dealing with a midfoot sprain<\/a>, after he had previously missed just four games all season. Even if Flagg were to miss extended time, he\u2019s not in danger of missing out on end-of-year awards, as the 65-game rule does not apply to Rookie of the Year, Marc Stein adds (Twitter link)<\/a>.
\nHaving traded<\/a> Jaren Jackson Jr.<\/a> for picks and unproven players and with Ja Morant<\/a>\u2018s future with the team still undecided, the Grizzlies are in need of a new face of the franchise, and Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal<\/a> wonders if Cedric Coward<\/a> can step into that role. Cole writes that Coward is notably self-assured for a rookie, something echoed by people within the team. \u201cHe\u2019s a very mature kid for his age,\u201d coach Tuomas Iisalo said. \u201cI think that\u2019s a very valuable commodity to have.\u201d Coward has been injured since early February, but has still been very engaged with the team, both during games and practices. \u201cIt\u2019s inspiring for him to be able to have the confidence to come into an NBA team with guys a lot older than him and be able to have the voice he has,\u201d teammate Jaylen Wells<\/a> said. \u201cHe\u2019s not afraid to speak up . . . It\u2019s definitely inspiring. You can see how natural of a leader he is.\u201d As for Coward, he\u2019s trying to keep a level head with the prospect of such expectations being placed on his relatively inexperienced shoulders. \u201cYou just try to make the best of whatever situation it is,\u201d he said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s franchise cornerstone, whether it\u2019s a building block \u2014 no matter what it is, the title doesn\u2019t mean anything to me.\u201c
\nMason Plumlee<\/a> knows he\u2019s likely not in for major minutes with the Spurs, but he\u2019s excited to take advantage of whatever opportunities present themselves, Tom Orsborn writes for the San Antonio Express-News<\/a>. \u201cI think I\u2019ve seen guys check in for five minutes and turn a game around,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the way I look at it.\u201d The soon-to-be 36-year-old is inactive due to \u201creturn to competition reconditioning,\u201d but he says he feels great and is ready to get started with an organization he\u2019s long admired. \u201cWhen I came into the league (as a late-first round pick in 2013), the Spurs had all the guys that were winning championships, and I just remember them being so sharp in everything they did on the court, and you hear about how well it\u2019s run behind the scenes and everybody gets hired (to become head coaches) out of here,\u201d he said. \u201cSo you kind of know coming in that there\u2019s something that works, there\u2019s something unique.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the announcement that Kyrie Irving would not play this year, the rest of the Mavericks\u2019 season is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,3522,225,6338,12445],"class_list":{"0":"post-625934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cedric-coward","10":"tag-cooper-flagg","11":"tag-marvin-bagley-iii","12":"tag-mason-plumlee"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116136908274209003","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}