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Jason Kidd just revealed the Cooper Flagg trait that will make Mavericks unstoppable

Mavericks fans have a lot to be excited about when it comes to the 19-year-old.
Will Miller
Will Miller

The Smoking Cuban

Dallas Mavericks, Cooper Flagg / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Losers of their last six games in a row, the Dallas Mavericks are priming themselves to bolster their draft lottery odds if things continue the way they have been recently, but Cooper Flagg has undoubtedly been playing his best basketball of the season in this stretch. Flagg has gone absolutely nuclear over these past four games, and head coach Jason Kidd is seeing how atypical it is to have the calmness and poise that Flagg possesses at such a young age.

"I think his calmness. His nerve. He’s not afraid of the moment," Kidd said when asked about what part of Flagg's game sticks out to him. "The bigger the stage, the bigger the light, the bigger game he has. It’s all about winning. He wants to win. The 49 (points), the 36, they all have Ls behind it. He wants to change that. He wants to win. For him, I think the great ones learn how to change those Ls into Ws. And he’s gonna be one of those."

Kidd isn't wrong in this instance whatsoever, as Flagg plays with a savviness to him that players his age simply don't have consistently, especially when playing on the biggest stage in the world night in and night out. Mavericks fans will remember how Luka Doncic also had this attribute when he first joined the Mavericks, but unlike Doncic, Flagg gets it done at both ends, even if he's not close to the offensive talent Doncic is yet.

Kidd thinks Flagg's calmness is what will take him and Mavs to next level

To speak to Flagg delivering in big moments and stepping up when the game is on the line, take this instance from his 49-point game versus the Charlotte Hornets, for example. Flagg nailed a tough pull-up 3-pointer over Moussa Diabate with 33.1 seconds left to tie the game in that contest, even though he's a sub-30 percent 3-point shooter and still has plenty of work to do in that capacity.

Even though Flagg was the No. 1 pick, he could've easily tried to dish it to one of Dallas' better 3-point shooters in that moment, but he stayed calm when the lights were the brightest, nearly securing a win for Dallas while grasping the record for most points in a game by a rookie in Mavericks franchise history.

Flagg did come from one of the top programs in college basketball at Duke University, but almost no one thought his offensive game would be this polished quite yet, nor did they think he'd be able to deliver in the clutch as he has thus far. Even if Flagg hasn't fully perfected his offensive bag yet, he has a certain it-factor, where he'll seemingly will himself to a bucket on a given possession, even if the shot he's taking looks wonky or too contested, and his finishing is already elite.

To Kidd's point, Flagg has an attribute that most veterans, much less rookies, ever acquire throughout their NBA careers. With the Mavericks fully set up to build around Flagg following the Anthony Davis trade, it's clear Flagg may expedite Dallas' rebuild far faster than anyone would've imagined, as the poise he's showing in big moments at just 19 years old is absolutely ridiculous.

Will Miller

Will Miller

Will Miller is a senior contributor and is in his second year with The Smoking Cuban. Will has been following the Dallas Mavericks for over a decade and is currently working on getting a Bachelors in Science in Sports Journalism from the University of North Texas, as he is also covering sports for the North Texas TV station. While Will is opening up his coverage to cover other sports for UNT, basketball and the Dallas Mavericks are his true passion and he hopes to continue writing and producing Mavericks related content as his career continues. Will has very solid in-game analysis and knowledge about the intricacies of the game, and has a very broad understanding about the NBA as a whole. Going forward Will is looking to be more expansive in his coverage of the Mavericks beyond writing as well. Outside of writing about the Mavericks, Will enjoys hanging with friends, going to the gym, and watching other sports and live events.