Mavericks landing Cooper Flagg forces Anthony Davis to accept crushing reality

The Dallas Mavericks won the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Lottery, meaning Wooden Award winner Cooper Flagg will be a Maverick next season. Flagg is a defensive monster at the power forward position with an NBA-ready offensive game. Mavs fans should expect the Duke star to make an immediate impact on the team.

Despite his incredible talent and potential, Flagg's addition will complicate the short-term roster construction. The Mavs already had a loaded frontcourt and weak wing play. With Flagg, this issue is compounded and will force the Mavs to move off one of their big man options, most likely P.J. Washington or Daniel Gafford.

The addition raises a second concern for the Mavs' roster next season: Flagg and Anthony Davis both play the four. While Davis has played center in the past, he has made his preference for playing power forward well known.

Despite his pleas, Davis was often forced to play center for the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers wanted to satisfy his wishes, however, Davis is simply much more valuable as a center than a power forward. His outside shooting is at an elite level for a center, but a below-average level for a power forward. Similarly, Davis's monstrous help defense is best weaponized as a center, where he has more opportunities to defend the paint.

Davis' positional preference must end with Cooper Flagg in town

Flagg is the prototypical modern power forward, similar to Davis when he was drafted in 2012. He is an elite defender both on and off-ball while providing an offensive game that is best suited when paired with other scoring threats. While he has immense upside as an offensive engine, this will not be realized until later in his career, perhaps even after the Davis-Kyrie Irving era.

With last season's roster, it made sense for Davis to play power forward. The Mavs had Gafford and Dereck Lively II at the center position, both of whom deserve serious minutes. Davis was able to play his brand of basketball without compromising the team's ceiling.

This is no longer the case.

This week, the Mavs have much better title odds than they did last week. The Mavericks will have to shake up the roster to maximize the fit and talent of this roster. To balance their talent among five positions, the Mavs should look to trade Gafford and or Washington for high-level starters at the wing positions, or the Mavs could explore starting both Flagg and Washington with Davis at the five.

This will force Davis to play significant minutes at the center position. His value as a center is too great, and Flagg is too good of a player to sacrifice the team's championship odds for the positional choice of one player. Davis is going to have to swallow his pride and do what's best for the team, whether he likes it or not.

The Mavs should look to replicate the rotations from the 2019-2020 Lakers. During the regular season, Davis played significant minutes as a power forward, which limited his discontent and injury risk. In the playoffs, Davis played a lot of power forward, but he also played center during key moments. When every game mattered, Lakers coach Frank Vogel asked Davis to set aside his personal preference for the good of the team. Consequently, the Lakers steamrolled their way to a 2020 NBA Finals Championship.

The Mavs should look to emulate Vogel's strategy in handling Davis. It is important to keep Davis happy and healthy during a long regular season, so experimenting with lineups that play Flagg, Davis, and a traditional center man is worth the lower quality of play.

However, in the playoffs, where every minute matters, Mavs coach Jason Kidd will have to be comfortable putting the team's needs over Davis's. The Mavericks' potential during the Irving-Davis era will depend on whether the Mavs and Davis accept that he is a better center than a power forward.