{"id":716071,"date":"2026-04-22T19:00:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716071\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T19:00:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:00:40","slug":"mavericks-have-a-clear-path-to-erase-cooper-flaggs-biggest-flaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/716071\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks have a clear path to erase Cooper Flagg’s biggest flaw"},"content":{"rendered":"

There isn’t much weakness, if anything, with the best 19-year-old basketball player in the world in Cooper Flagg, but there’s a clear Achilles heel the Dallas Mavericks cannot ignore. It’s not often in the NBA today that players can get by without having a strong jump shot. Even Dereck Lively II has flirted with the thought<\/a> of developing an outside shot, but injuries have derailed him from starting that journey.<\/p>\n

The Mavs have to use the NBA Draft to select a guard who can create space and operate off the dribble to give Flagg decent looks from deep. To compare how Flagg and Luka Doncic are similar once again, Doncic is the ultimate floor general who gets his guys involved, but the only way Flagg’s deep range can improve is if the Mavs get a similar facilitator to connect with Flagg.<\/p>\n

Flagg has to be able to shoot better from deep, and while growing pains are necessary as an NBA rookie, especially starting as an 18-year-old, the former Duke star won’t be able to use it as an excuse for long.<\/p>\n

Cooper Flagg will soon have help to revive his 3-point shot<\/p>\n

At one point, Flagg was shooting 27.8 percent from three<\/a> on the season. His overall field goal percentage finished at 46.8 percent, but when you have a generational player who can do everything out there, the issue can be fixed.<\/p>\n

Keaton Wagler may be the dream draft pick<\/a> that Dallas has been looking for. His quickness off the dribble can draw defenders to collapse on him and free Flagg for open shots. This was a similar philosophy to what fans had thought when Klay Thompson entered Dallas as a perfect complement to Doncic. Thompson thrives as an off-ball scorer<\/a>, and the Mavs have to go back to using that formula again.<\/p>\n

Of course, since Doncic was traded, Thompson’s good looks have been tougher to come by. A player like Wagler, Kingston Flemings, or Darius Acuff Jr. could be the key to Flagg fixing his 3-point shot. <\/p>\n

The Mavericks struggled all season from deep<\/p>\n

It wasn’t Flagg’s fault entirely that he struggled from long range, as the Mavs were one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the NBA, shooting 34.4 percent on the year.<\/p>\n

Max Christie, who was expected to take a giant leap in his game this year, did start that way at the beginning of the season, but took a tumble as we got into the second half of the season, and it was hard to watch. Christie thrives playing with Irving<\/a>, and we can only hope that he will get back to more consistent shooting when the 15-year veteran returns to the lineup.<\/p>\n

It’s going to take a lot for the team to get back on track with 3-point shooting, which is why the player they draft will have a lot to do with how they operate from deep. A player like Wagler doesn’t have to be chasing threes like Stephen Curry, but at least getting guys involved and having gravity is just enough.<\/p>\n

\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There isn’t much weakness, if anything, with the best 19-year-old basketball player in the world in Cooper Flagg,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,166,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-716071","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\/116449905023614197","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716071","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=716071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}