Cooper Flagg just did something no rookie has done since Luka Doncic

The NBA announced its All-NBA teams on May 24 (Sunday night), and while no Dallas Maverick made the cut, one Maverick still earned recognition. Rookie phenom Cooper Flagg received an All-NBA vote, becoming the first rookie since… well, former Maverick, Luka Doncic.

Flagg becomes the first rookie since Doncic to receive an All-NBA vote

It was only one third-team vote, unlike Doncic’s second-team vote in 2019, but history says that kind of recognition this early is typically reserved for future superstars.

Oddly enough, current Maverick and former No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley III also received an All-NBA vote in 2019. Yes… really.

But while Bagley III averaged a respectable 14.9 points and 7.6 rebounds per game as a rookie, he finished seventh in Rookie of the Year voting, making his vote feel more like an anomaly than the beginning of something greater. Doncic’s recognition, on the other hand, proved to be an early sign of superstardom.

Prior to Bagley III and Doncic receiving All-NBA votes in 2019, rookies like Donovan Mitchell in 2018, Karl-Anthony Towns in 2015, Blake Griffin in 2011, and Derrick Rose in 2010 also earned recognition.

Why Flagg’s All-NBA recognition signals future superstardom

With the exception of Bagley III, every player on that list either became a perennial All-Star or won MVP honors. History obviously guarantees nothing, but early All-NBA recognition has consistently been a sign of future stardom.

Of course, Flagg’s ceiling may go beyond even that. He already looks closer to Doncic than a typical rookie comparison suggests — a six-time All-Star and six-time All-NBA First Team selection.

For context, Flagg averaged 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game as a rookie, while Doncic posted 21.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 6.0 assists. On the surface, the production is strikingly similar. The difference, of course, is not what they produced, but what those numbers eventually became.

Doncic crossed the 30-point-per-game threshold in his fourth season and came close to averaging a triple-double by his fifth. The bar is obviously sky-high, but for a player of Flagg’s caliber (one who doesn’t even turn 20 until December), the trajectory already feels within the realm of possibility.

That is what makes the All-NBA vote so significant. Flagg is the first rookie since Doncic to receive such recognition. History suggests that kind of early acknowledgment isn't meaningless — players who reach it this soon almost never stay ordinary for long. And if that pattern holds, the rest of the league may already be dealing with its next problem.

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