Cooper Flagg's historic start ties Luka Doncic's unreal Mavericks feat

Their games share little in common, yet Cooper Flagg and Luka Doncic will forever be linked.

Both entered the NBA as generational prospects, and both fell into the Dallas Mavericks’ lap as the catalyst for a franchise turnaround.

Cooper Flagg joins exclusive company

In Flagg's return from an eight-game absence due to a midfoot sprain, he scored 18 points in a narrow 115–114 loss to the Orlando Magic. The outing pushed him past 1,000 career points, tying Doncic as the second-fastest teenager ever to reach the mark.

LeBron James is the only player to reach 1,000 career points faster than Flagg and Doncic, doing so in just 49 games. Flagg also trails only James among the youngest players to hit the mark, reaching it at 19 years and 74 days — 33 days older than James did.

It’s already been heavily discussed, and it won’t fade anytime soon. Dallas’ fortune in landing a player of Flagg’s caliber just months after jettisoning Doncic will remain one of the NBA’s most fascinating storylines.

Cooper Flagg is already tracing Luka Doncic’s footsteps

As mentioned, Flagg isn’t similar to Doncic. Their playstyles are vastly different: Flagg is an athletic two-way forward known for his competitiveness and high-flying slams. Doncic, meanwhile, is a wizardly playmaker whose mix of step-back threes and methodical drives makes him virtually unstoppable offensively.

Yet beyond the draft parallels, both players have enjoyed similarly impressive rookie seasons. Of course, Flagg’s campaign isn’t over yet, but he has averaged 20.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game while shooting 47.8 percent from the field and 30.1 percent from three-point range. Doncic averaged 21.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game as a rookie, shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 32.7 percent from beyond the arc in his Rookie of the Year campaign.

The only thing left for Flagg to mirror from one of the generation’s best players is winning Rookie of the Year. Still, he faces stiff competition from his former Duke teammate, Kon Knueppel. Even as the league’s leading rookie scorer, the award is far from guaranteed.

Nonetheless, while the future remains up in the air, it’s commendable that Flagg has already joined such an accomplished group by scoring his 1,000th point. Only LeBron reached the milestone younger and faster. Not even some of the NBA’s most prolific scorers, like Carmelo Anthony or Kevin Durant, accomplished what Flagg did, which is further proof that Dallas’ 19-year-old prodigy may be on track to surpass even the loftiest expectations.