Dirk Nowitzki exposes the truth behind Cooper Flagg's chaotic rookie year

Cooper Flagg's rookie year wasn't easy. The Dallas Mavericks lost 56 games just two seasons after they made the NBA Finals, traded their former superstar, Anthony Davis, and Kyrie Irving missed the entire season after tearing his ACL at the end of the 2024-25 season. This was not their intended plan for Flagg's first season in the NBA after winning the draft lottery, and Dirk Nowitzki knows just how much adversity he had to battle.

Nowitzki saw what most fans already forgot about Flagg's rookie year

"I watched Cooper all year long," Nowitzki said. "The stuff he had to deal with early, with all the negativity around and the booing. There was a lot happening that whole season...Started at point guard at 6-9, something that he's never done....Historic numbers as a teenager...Well deserved, Cooper, we're proud of you."

Nowitzki gave Flagg his flowers for winning Rookie of the Year and beating out his college roommate and former Duke teammate in Kon Knueppel, and he knows this wasn't easy. This battle was neck and neck up until the final few weeks of the season, but Flagg's impact ultimately outweighed Knueppel's elite shooting numbers.

Less than a month into Flagg's rookie season, Patrick Dumont and company decided to fire Nico Harrison just over nine months after making the Luka Doncic trade. This was a move that Nowitzki openly said should've happened during the offseason, and the bad mojo from the season prior bled over into Flagg's inaugural season. There were constant booing and "fire Nico" chants from the Mavericks' home crowd to begin the year — even during clutch games.

This wasn't what Flagg deserved after being the No. 1 overall pick, and the promise and excitement that was supposed to follow the Mavericks into the 2025-26 season was replaced by negativity and hatred toward Harrison. He was the one who made the call to trade Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Davis, and with Davis getting injured almost immediately, fans were on edge.

Any mistake that Dallas made was magnified, and they had an awful start to the season. They were 3-8 when they fired Harrison, and Dumont had seen enough of the negativity. He fired Harrison at the beginning of November, and while the losses continued to pile up, the vibes improved.

Flagg's adversity-filled start to the season faded away with time

Mavericks fans were able to look past Harrison and the Doncic trade, as they had Flagg to be excited about. He went on to average 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game while shooting 46.8 percent from the field, proving that he deserved Rookie of the Year.

Flagg quickly became one of the best young players in the NBA, and despite all of the outside noise he had to deal with, he improved significantly as the season went on. Nowitzki knows how hard it was for him to deal with the negativity, along with playing out of position to begin the season, and he handled every challenge that was in front of him handily.

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