Dallas Mavericks fans are incredibly excited about the future of the organization after selecting Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. But perhaps nobody is as excited as former Mavericks coach Avery Johnson, who had as high of praise as he possibly could when speaking about Flagg ahead of the first round of the draft on Wednesday night.
Naturally, Flagg, the Mavericks’ new star, is always going to be compared to Luka Dončić, the player the Mavericks traded this past season to get into position to select Flagg, thanks to some luck in the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery.
Most are of the opinion that Flagg has a ways to go in his career to reach the level of stardom that Dončić has already reached as a true NBA superstar.
However, Avery Johnson views things a little differently. Covering the first round of the NBA Draft on Wednesday night, Johnson proclaimed that he would actually take Flagg over Dončić for the Mavericks.
“Man, give me Cooper Flagg,” said Johnson when asked to pick between the two. “Cooper Flagg in this team… Yeah, give me Cooper Flagg. This team is gonna be tremendous once Kyrie Irving gets healthy. You’ll still have Anthony Davis when he gets healthy. This team, they are going to re-sign Daniel Gafford. There is talks to re-sign Kyrie Irving. This team is gonna be one of the best two-way teams in the league.
“And they didn’t really have to sacrifice any of that depth. They have quality young players coming off that bench. Klay Thompson is a champion. You are talking about a team, when healthy, that has three future Hall of Famers, with Kyrie, AD, and Klay Thompson. So, this is really exciting. The Mavericks, their future is bright. They have a window when they are healthy, the next two or three years, with this roster as currently constructed.”
Flagg obviously has the potential to be the kind of player that can truly be as good as Dončić someday. But understandably, given what Dončić has achieved in his NBA career, most NBA fans weren’t buying Johnson’s opinion on the two players.
“Probably why he’s a former coach,” one fan joked on X.
“Stop!” wrote another fan.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.