{"id":97555,"date":"2025-06-14T04:38:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T04:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/97555\/"},"modified":"2025-06-14T04:38:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T04:38:08","slug":"southwest-notes-flagg-rockets-pelicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/97555\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Notes: Flagg, Rockets, Pelicans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cooper Flagg<\/a>, the presumed 2025 number one pick, is only visiting the Mavericks in the lead-up to the draft, reports Mark Medina of RG<\/a> in an interview with Flagg\u2019s trainer, Matt MacKenzie.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll be able to tour their facilities and learn about the organization as a whole. So it\u2019s something he\u2019s definitely looking forward to. It\u2019s the only team he\u2019s going to go visit. He\u2019s very excited for it,\u201d MacKenzie says.<\/p>\n

MacKenzie also confirms that Flagg\u2019s workouts have included, at times, Kevin Durant<\/a> and Chris Paul<\/a>. Durant had less one-on-one interaction with Flagg directly, and primarily involved watching Durant work out, while Paul imparted advice primarily on how to adjust to the non-basketball side of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Chris Paul has been really helpful in sharing the different things that you need to be aware of when you\u2019re coming into the league as a rookie in terms of how to manage your time off the court. During your downtime, you need to make sure you\u2019re also treating your recovery with importance and understanding that 82 games is a long season\u2026 Being able to get that input has been incredibly valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lauded for his versatile skillset, MacKenzie relays that Flagg\u2019s workouts are meant to prepare him for any and every role that his next team will ask him to play.<\/p>\n

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

Despite a roster crunch and uncertain roles moving forward, it\u2019s unlikely that the Rockets put one of Tari Eason<\/a> or Jabari Smith<\/a> Jr. on the trade block this summer, writes Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle<\/a>. In her mailbag, Lerner writes that it\u2019s more likely that they have to decide between extending one or both of them and then reevaluating next year. Lerner also doubts that the Rockets will make a move for the Nets\u2019 Cameron Johnson<\/a>, both for salary cap reasons and because she views the defensive drop-off from Dillon Brooks<\/a> to Johnson as something Houston would be wary of.
\nThis is a big offseason for the Rockets, Keith Smith writes in his Spotrac offseason preview<\/a>. While there has been talk about continuing to patiently build around the young core, there\u2019s a sense that the team\u2019s success last season has led them to consider fast-tracking the process. Deciding whether to keep, extend, or either trade Fred VanVleet<\/a> or let him walk will be a crucial part of their summer, as will their ability to pull off a Kevin Durant<\/a> trade<\/a>. Smith writes that trying to retain Steven Adams<\/a> should also be a high priority, as he was a pivotal part of their playoff run and proved to be a very effective backup.
\nThe Pelicans have struggled at times to find the right balance of players to put around Zion Williamson<\/a>, writes William Guillory for The Athletic<\/a>. That includes finding an answer at the center position, which is why Guillory looks at whether it would make sense for New Orleans to target Khaman Maluach<\/a> with the seventh pick in the 2025 draft. This offseason is the first with Joe Dumars as the top decisionmaker, and will tell the league much about how he plans to proceed with shaping the roster. Guillory mentions that the team found success using double-big lineups featuring Kelly Olynyk<\/a> and rookie big Yves Missi<\/a> last season, but it\u2019s unlikely that Missi and Maluach could play together unless the Duke center enters the league much more advanced as a shooter than expected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cooper Flagg, the presumed 2025 number one pick, is only visiting the Mavericks in the lead-up to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,2726,2596,225,866,1346,938,958,6,478,470,4073,4072,675,962,873],"class_list":{"0":"post-97555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-pelicans","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cameron-johnson","10":"tag-chris-paul","11":"tag-cooper-flagg","12":"tag-fred-vanvleet","13":"tag-jabari-smith","14":"tag-kevin-durant","15":"tag-khaman-maluach","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-new-orleans","18":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","19":"tag-neworleans","20":"tag-neworleanspelicans","21":"tag-pelicans","22":"tag-steven-adams","23":"tag-tari-eason"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114679873953075310","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97555","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=97555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}