{"id":705377,"date":"2026-04-08T14:55:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/705377\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T14:55:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:55:27","slug":"mavericks-have-a-shot-at-forming-a-cooper-flagg-led-duo-that-the-entire-nba-will-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/705377\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks have a shot at forming a Cooper Flagg-led duo that the entire NBA will fear"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5q\">The Dallas Mavericks currently have the eighth best odds at landing the No. 1 pick in this year&#8217;s NBA Draft, which equates to a six percent chance as of right now, but if they were to land this pick, they&#8217;d have the ability to form one of the most dynamic duos in the NBA on the wing by pairing AJ Dybantsa next to Cooper Flagg.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5t\">Dybantsa is projected to go No. 1 or No. 2 in most mock drafts, as the 6-foot-9 freshman averaged the most points in all of NCAA Division I last season for the BYU Cougars, scoring 25.5 points per game, snagging 6.8 rebounds per game, and dishing out 3.7 assists per game. Dybantsa is a prolific athlete who plays both ends of the floor, similar to Flagg, but he&#8217;s even more polished as a three-level scoring threat coming out of college compared to Flagg.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5w\">On the flip side, Flagg is a more dynamic defender compared to Dybantsa, and definitely <a href=\"https:\/\/thesmokingcuban.com\/cooper-flagg-s-latest-development-is-what-will-turn-him-into-a-true-superstar-playmaking-passing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a better playmaker<\/a>, but the Mavericks would have to find a way to make this duo work if they lucked into the first or second pick in the draft this year.<\/p>\n<p>Teams would fear a Dybantsa-Flagg duo for years to come<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"62\">Sure, there may be a little positional overlap with two 6-foot-9 wings in the lineup, but with how much Flagg and Dybantsa can create their own shots, this probably wouldn&#8217;t be an issue whatsoever, and would just make Dallas&#8217; wing defense that much more menacing. When adding a playmaker <a href=\"https:\/\/thesmokingcuban.com\/mark-cuban-reveals-why-shutting-down-kyrie-irving-was-smartest-move-for-mavericks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">like Kyrie Irving back into the lineup<\/a> as well, this would give Dallas a three-headed monster on the offensive end to pair with Dereck Lively II\/Daniel Gafford and another shooter in the lineup.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"65\">Just like Flagg, Dybantsa is the type of rookie that can have an immediate impact from day one, and while adjusting to the NBA game and playing off-ball more would definitely be some challenges for the 19-year-old, it&#8217;s definitely something he could accomplish with time. Dybantsa has been compared to Tracy McGrady by many draft experts, and for Mavericks fans who haven&#8217;t kept up with college hoops this season, this shows the type of potential the young man has.<\/p>\n<p>Dallas needs more lottery luck to make this duo a reality<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6b\">Obviously, Dallas will need to get some lottery luck once again for <a href=\"https:\/\/thesmokingcuban.com\/dallas-mavericks-dream-target-just-became-crystal-clear-after-anthony-davis-injury\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">this prophecy to come true<\/a>, but it&#8217;s certainly not an impossible proposition, especially if the Mavericks leapfrog the New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies in terms of who has a worse record <a href=\"https:\/\/thesmokingcuban.com\/mavericks-are-running-out-of-time-to-fix-this-franchise-altering-mistake\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">in the last four games<\/a> of the season. Flagg and Dybantsa could form a duo on the wing that has seldom been seen in the NBA throughout its history (i.e., Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, or Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady).<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6e\">There really haven&#8217;t been any duos in league history that are both 6-foot-9 with similar levels of athleticism and two-way prowess, though, as the thought of a fully developed Flagg and Dybantsa would be a nightmare for every opposing team on a given night. Again, this is far from a reality as of right now, but if lightning can strike twice for the Mavericks in terms of their lottery luck, they&#8217;re almost guaranteed to have a duo of the future that will wreck the entire NBA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Mavericks currently have the eighth best odds at landing the No. 1 pick in this year&#8217;s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,166,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-705377","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-dallasmavericks","12":"tag-mavericks","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116369668848058142","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705377","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=705377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}