Whereas most high picks enter the league with little assist and sky-high expectations, 18-year-old Cooper Flagg finds himself in a uncommon spot: becoming a member of a roster filled with veterans with championship resumes, together with Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Klay Thompson.
“Lots of people on this place or this case aren’t granted this chance,” Flagg stated throughout his introductory press convention. “So I simply really feel actually blessed and grateful for the scenario I’ve been given. I’m simply trying ahead to being a sponge. Simply getting down right here, I’m excited to only be taught, soak all of it in and be taught from the fellows which can be older and have been by means of all of it earlier than.”
The Mavericks snagged the No. 1 choose regardless of holding only a 1.8 p.c likelihood within the lottery, following a season derailed by accidents to Davis and Irving. T
hat lottery win got here only a 12 months after a Finals run led by Luka Doncic, who was traded to the Lakers this previous season in a blockbuster deal that introduced Davis to Dallas.
Even with Irving nonetheless recovering from a torn ACL, and Doncic gone, the core round Flagg stays robust.
“These guys have a lot information,” Flagg stated of his veteran teammates. “They’ve been by means of a lot, and so they have a lot expertise that it’s simply going to be an unimaginable alternative for me to be taught and develop underneath them.”
Flagg isn’t shying away from expectations, although appears to be taking a grounded strategy.
“I’m coming in simply attempting to be taught and attempting to get higher each single day,” Flagg stated. “If I can do this to one of the best of my means, I feel expectations and pressures that different individuals will placed on me and our staff, that can type of work itself out. So I’m simply attempting to return in and be one of the best that I will be and simply win on the highest stage.”
READ MORE: Kyrie Irving’s New Deal Indicators Mavs Championship Perception