ESPN predicts Cooper Flagg's first NBA All-Star appearance

"Blake Griffin is the only rookie All-Star in the past two decades, and he had the benefit of a 'redshirt' year in the NBA, as he sat out his first season because of left knee surgery," ESPN's Zach Kram explained. "It's also unclear what next year's All-Star rosters will look like because of changing formats. If the league adopts a USA vs. World approach for the game, then Flagg could face even greater competition through the deep American player pool."

"But second-year All-Stars are more common, with eight such players in the past eight years: Victor Wembanyama, Paolo Banchero,  LaMelo Ball, Zion Williamson, Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Ben Simmons, and Joel Embiid. And a very large portion of star-level players reach that level by Year 3, so our panel is confident that Flagg will fit into that bucket, at the very least. "

Cooper Flagg Looking to Make NBA All-Star Game History

Dallas has already seen one of its star rookies make an All-Star Game this year, as Paige Bueckers of the Wings was a starter for the WNBA All-Star Game about a month ago. But it's incredibly unlikely that Flagg will be good enough to be a starter in the NBA All-Star Game.

However, he will have a better chance than most rookies of making the All-Star Game. Because Kyrie Irving is going to be out for at least the first half of the season, Flagg will have the ball in his hands a lot and will be asked to make plays on what is expected to be a decent team.

If Flagg is good right away and the Mavs win games early, he could build some early All-Star buzz. But, as ESPN pointed out, it's been a while since a rookie made the All-Star Game. The last one to do so without a medical "redshirt" was Yao Ming in 2003, but he had help from the international vote. The last one before him was Tim Duncan. So that's the kind of season Flagg would need to have.