{"id":430366,"date":"2026-01-27T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/430366\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T09:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T09:00:25","slug":"dallas-mavericks-rookie-cooper-flagg-headlines-rising-stars-field-in-first-all-star-weekend-appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/430366\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Mavericks Rookie Cooper Flagg Headlines Rising Stars Field In First All-Star Weekend Appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cooper Flagg<\/a>\u2019s rookie season will carry him onto the NBA\u2019s All-Star Weekend stage, as the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> wing was selected to compete in the 2026 Rising Stars game.<\/p>\n

The Rising Stars event will be played Friday, Feb. 13, at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, as part of NBA All-Star 2026. The four-team, three-game mini-tournament features 10 rookies, 11 sophomores and a fourth team made up of NBA G League players.<\/p>\n

Flagg becomes the 13th player in franchise history to earn a Rising Stars selection since the event\u2019s inception in 1994. His inclusion also marks the third consecutive season a Maverick has been chosen, following Dereck Lively II<\/a>\u2019s appearances in both his rookie and sophomore seasons.<\/p>\n

Cooper Flagg Earns Rising Stars Selection After Standout Rookie Season<\/p>\n

Through 43 games, all starts, Flagg is averaging 18.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists while shooting 47.3% from the field. His production has extended into late-game situations, where he has totaled 73 clutch points \u2014 ninth-most in the NBA \u2014 and he is the only player this season to rank top 10 leaguewide in clutch points, rebounds, and assists.<\/p>\n

Among rookies, Flagg ranks second in total points, rebounds, and assists, while also placing third in total steals and blocks. He is the only first-year player to rank top three across all five major statistical categories.<\/p>\n

Those performances secured Flagg a place in the Rising Stars field, which was selected by NBA assistant coaches. The players will be drafted onto three seven-player teams Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET, with the G League team serving as the fourth entry.<\/p>\n

Cooper Flagg Leads NBA Rookie Player Pool<\/p>\n

Flagg headlines a rookie group that includes Cedric Coward<\/a> of the Memphis Grizzlies (14.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists), Egor Demin of the Brooklyn Nets (10.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists), VJ Edgecombe<\/a> of the Philadelphia 76ers (15.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists) and Jeremiah Fears<\/a> of the New Orleans Pelicans (13.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists).<\/p>\n

The rookie pool also features Dylan Harper<\/a> of the San Antonio Spurs, Tre Johnson<\/a> of the Washington Wizards, Kon Knueppel<\/a> of the Charlotte Hornets, Collin Murray-Boyles<\/a> of the Toronto Raptors, and Derik Queen<\/a>, also of New Orleans.<\/p>\n

Sophomore Class Adds Depth To 2026 Rising Stars Field<\/p>\n

The sophomore group includes Alex Sarr<\/a> of Washington (17.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists), Stephon Castle<\/a> of San Antonio (16.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 7.1 assists), and Matas Buzelis<\/a> of the Chicago Bulls (14.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists).<\/p>\n

Also selected were Donovan Clingan<\/a> of Portland, Reed Sheppard<\/a> of Houston, Cam Spencer<\/a> and Jaylen Wells<\/a> of Memphis, Jaylon Tyson<\/a> of Cleveland, Ajay Mitchell<\/a> of Oklahoma City, and Kel\u2019el Ware<\/a> of Miami.<\/p>\n

G League Players Round Out Castrol Rising Stars Tournament<\/p>\n

The fourth team will be made up of NBA G League players, including Sean East II<\/a>, Ron Harper Jr.<\/a>, David Jones-Garcia, Yanic Konan Niederh\u00e4user<\/a>, Alijah Martin<\/a>, Tristen Newton<\/a>, and Yang Hansen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Flagg was not selected as an NBA All-Star this season, his Rising Stars selection \u2014 combined with strong fan and player voting support \u2014 places him squarely on the All-Star Weekend stage and reinforces his trajectory as a foundational piece of the Mavericks\u2019 future.<\/p>\n

Latest Dallas Mavericks News & NBA Rumors:<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cooper Flagg\u2019s rookie season will carry him onto the NBA\u2019s All-Star Weekend stage, as the Dallas Mavericks wing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5117],"tags":[7645,196,5047,147,5278,5,53170,555,53171,21101,53172,4,197],"class_list":{"0":"post-430366","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-stars","8":"tag-cooper-flagg","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-dallas-stars","12":"tag-dallasstars","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-mavericks-rookies","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-nba-all-star-2026","17":"tag-nba-news","18":"tag-nba-rising-stars","19":"tag-nhl","20":"tag-stars"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115966248755819130","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}