Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg. Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Cooper Flagg giving Mavericks hope for future one year after ill-fated Luka Doncic trade

By Clark Dalton | Last updated Feb 1, 2026 3:51 PM ET

The Dallas Mavericks are lucky they potentially found another franchise player in rookie forward Cooper Flagg after one of the most dumbfounding trades in recent memory.

Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of the Mavericks shipping star guard Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for guard Max Christie, forward/center Anthony Davis and a 2029 first-round pick. Dallas has spiraled downward since this blockbuster deal.

The Mavericks (19-30) are 32-50 since trading Doncic, and Davis has played in just 29 games (20 this season) for the team due to groin, knee and Achilles injuries. In November 2025, the Mavericks fired former general manager Nico Harrison, orchestrator of the ill-fated trade. Doncic, meanwhile, leads the NBA in scoring (33.7 points per game).

Not all hope is lost for the Mavericks, though. 2025 No. 1 pick Flagg is giving the franchise reasons to be optimistic about the future.

Cooper Flagg has made NBA history over his past two games

Flagg scored a season-high 49 points and logged 10 rebounds in a 123-121 loss to the Charlotte Hornets (22-28) on Thursday night. He followed that up with a 34-point and 12-rebound performance in a 111-107 loss to the Houston Rockets (30-17) on Saturday night. At 19 years and 41 days old, he became the youngest player in NBA history to record two straight games with 30-point double-doubles.

Thursday vs. CHA: 49 PTS, 10 REB
Saturday vs. HOU: 34 PTS, 12 REB

Cooper Flagg (19y, 41d) becomes the youngest player in NBA history to notch back-to-back games with 30-PT double-doubles pic.twitter.com/O0IG63AfLl
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) February 1, 2026

"He's figured it out," Rockets forward Kevin Durant said of Flagg postgame, per ESPN's Tim MacMahon. "He understands that he's tough to stop."

Since Dec. 1, 2025, Flagg has averaged 22.2 PPG, 6.6 rebounds per game and 4.7 assists per game (per StatMuse). Those numbers are not yet on the level of Doncic, but keep in mind there's still plenty of time for him to get there. More importantly, it's time for the team and fan base to move on from the trade.

"Next year it'll be two years, and after that it'll be three," Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said Saturday, according to Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News. "We'll just keep counting. But Luka's moved on, and we've moved on. ...We wish him the best, but that's just the business of basketball. Gotta move forward."

And the best way to move forward after the blockbuster trade is centering a rebuild around Flagg, who's beginning to look like the player the Mavericks need to replace someone of Doncic's caliber.

Clark Dalton

Dalton is a 2022 journalism graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. He gained experience in sports media over the past seven years — from live broadcasting and creating short films to podcasting and producing. In college, he wrote for The Daily Texan. He loves sports and enjoys hiking, kayaking and camping.

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