Mavericks' Projected Starting Lineup With Cooper Flagg Looks Scary

The biggest question mark when it comes to this lineup is Kyrie Irving, who averaged 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in 2024-25. Irving tore his ACL in March, and while we have seen plenty of players come back strongly from that injury, we are talking about a 33-year-old small guard here.

It's not a given that we'll see the best of Irving when he returns next season. If we do, though, the Mavericks will give teams plenty of headaches.

Klay Thompson knows a thing or two about coming back from injury. Thompson tore his ACL in 2019 and his Achilles in 2020. We haven't seen him at his best since then, but he remains effective on the court.

Thompson averaged 14.0 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game for the Mavericks in 2024-25. He shot a solid 39.1% from beyond the arc and provides some much-needed spacing to this unit.

We get to Flagg next, and he would be slotting in at small forward in this lineup. It's not his best position, but it's one that he can play in. The 18-year-old averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game as a freshman for Duke.

Flagg is that Swiss Army knife that every team could use. He can do a bit of everything on the court, and it will be interesting to see how quickly he is able to gel with this group, if the Mavericks do draft him as they're expected to.

While Flagg hopes to one day become a two-way force in the NBA, Anthony Davis already is one. Davis averaged 24.7 points, 11.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.2 steals, and 2.2 blocks per game in 2024-25 for the Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers. He is one of the premier bigs in the NBA, but health is a question mark.

Davis had a magnificent debut for the Mavericks with 26 points and 16 rebounds in just under 31 minutes against the Houston Rockets. He went down with an adductor injury in that game, though, and ended up missing six weeks. If the injury bug doesn't strike, Davis should help the Mavericks excel on both ends of the floor in 2025-26.

Lastly, we get to Dereck Lively II, one of the more promising young bigs in the NBA. Lively averaged 8.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.6 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game for the Mavericks in 2024-25. He didn't quite have the kind of sophomore campaign that you'd have expected, but that was down to injuries.

Lively played just 36 games last season after playing 55 as a rookie. He has struggled to stay on the court in his short NBA career, and that is concerning.

So, all in all, this is a formidable lineup, but you can't help but be worried about the injury history. If these players stay healthy, the Mavericks will make noise in the playoffs next year. If they don't, well, then it will be another disappointing season.