Is Cooper Flagg on a “Kobe arc”? Here’s what Mark Cuban said

When the Dallas Mavericks overcame the lottery odds to snatch the No. 1 pick at the 2025 NBA Draft, there was little debate about who they would take.

For months, even years, Cooper Flagg had been the top-rated player in his cohort and the Duke freshman was duly picked by the Mavericks. He joins a team in flux, rebuilding after the departure of former talisman Luka Doncic earlier this year.

Flagg made his team debut at the Las Vegas Summer League game against the LA Lakers earlier this week. It was only a first glimpse at Flagg in an NBA team but he was not entirely impressive, managing just 10 points, six rebounds and three assists. He missed 15 of his 21 shots from the floor and went scoreless in the entire second half.

Nevertheless, Flagg looks well-set to be a hugely influential player for the Mavs and former Dallas owner Mark Cuban has insisted that he has no concern about the young star.

“You kind of have to think of the Kobe [Bryant] arc ... it took him some time to get it right,” Cuban said after the victory against the Lakers. “I don’t want to curse him by comparing him to Kobe because they’re not the same. But Kobe didn’t come in right away as a polished player. It took him two years to get it.”

There is clearly no shortage of talent for Flagg but the comparison to Kobe Bryant will take some by surprise. And while Bryant did grow into one of the league’s best players, he was afforded the opportunity to take things slowly. He was drafted in 1996 but played only 15.5 minutes per game in his debut season. He was not the starting guard for the Lakers until the 1998/99 season.

Flagg will not be given the same amount of time to acclimatize to a new team, and a new league. The Mavericks need him to become a key piece for the new-look starting five pretty quickly. It would be a daunting prospect for most young players, but Flagg seems confident that he can turn around a flat first performance for the team.

“The coaches have a lot of confidence in me,”Flagg said. “They were telling me they want me to experiment, try some new things. I was trying to be aggressive. That’s new for me, too. I would say that might be one of the worst games of my life.”

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