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Exciting Cooper Flagg, Bronny James Summer League Announcement Made on Thursday

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Kevin Borba | Last updated Jun 26, 2025 10:18 PM ET

The 2025 NBA Draft was full of surprises during its opening round, but the least surprising pick was the Dallas Mavericks selecting Cooper Flagg No. 1 overall.

The former Duke star frequently draws comparisons to Kawhi Leonard, and despite the fact that his lone season of college basketball was supposed to be his senior year at Montverde Academy, he dominated at the college ranks.

He led Duke in all five major categories, averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game.

While fans knew where he was going, millions tuned in to watch his name be called. In addition to the millions that tuned into the 2025 NBA Draft, there will likely also be quite a few that tune into his NBA Summer League Debut.

As announced by ESPN on Thursday, Flagg will make his Mavericks debut against Bronny James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

#NBA Programming Update:

July 10, @ESPNNBA will present an @NBASummerLeague doubleheader ft. the Mavericks debut of @Cooper_Flagg against the Lakers & Bronny James⁰
8p ET | @dallasmavs vs @Lakers
10p ET | @spurs vs @sixers pic.twitter.com/XwQ1lbCoUv
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) June 27, 2025

Although James was taken with the No. 55 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, he was far and away the most polarizing player in the class.

Many felt that the oldest son of LeBron James didn't deserve a spot in the NBA, but he took advantage of both of his opportunities with the Lakers and the G League affiliate South Bay Lakers, where he averaged 21.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game.

As revealed in the announcement, Flagg and James will square off against each other on July 10 at 8:00 p.m. ET in a game set to air on ESPN.

While the elder James will likely be pulling for his son and teammate, he did predict before the draft that Flagg would be amazing due to the situation he finds himself in, surrounded by champions and all-stars like Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson.

"You know, these guys are like, they can give him the whole blueprint while he continues to learn what his blueprint will be," James said. And I think that will be an incredible thing to have that type of presence, that type of leadership, that type of just basketball IQ and knowledge around him every single day from those pieces. So, I think he's going to be amazing."

With two of the biggest young names in the sport facing off, there will be plenty of fans tuned in.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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