With the mistake that the Dallas Mavericks made when they traded Luka Doncic, it's easy to see why the team is excited about potentially adding a franchise-caliber player in the form of Cooper Flagg.
And according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, the Mavericks will welcome Flagg because of their decision to move on from Doncic, allowing the fan base to now have another star they can rely on after the shockingly abrupt move to deal the MVP candidate.
“Perhaps more importantly, Flagg's addition would be a welcome page-turner for the Mavs' front office after the exiling of franchise stalwart Luka Doncic, giving the fan base a true young star to gravitate toward, with exactly the kind of off-court habits and defensive mentality the front office said it covets in its explanation for why it decided to trade the future Hall of Famer,” he wrote.
Flagg is a very good player and is expected to find plenty of success in the NBA. However, until he shows that he's anything of Doncic’s caliber, it’ll still be tough to justify the Mavericks' decision.
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Even then, it wasn't as if the front office understood that they would have an opportunity to draft Flagg, making their decision that much worse.
Had they found a way to pair both players, which would’ve been unlikely given how the lottery played out, it’d made things easier to deal with.
Regarding Flagg, he's a much different player than Doncic. He's a defensive first player with the ability to score at a high level.
However, most evaluators view his defense as the top asset in his game.