Flagg Details Mental Strain of Mavericks' Poor Season

Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg described his debut NBA season as mentally taxing amid the team's dismal performance. The 19-year-old forward from Newport, Maine, shared the sentiment during a recent appearance on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show." Flagg enters the year in contention for NBA Rookie of the Year despite the Mavericks' 24-52 record, which leaves them out of playoff contention.

Flagg contrasted the struggles with his prior success, noting he lost only four games combined in high school and college last year. "Obviously, it’s been tough. Like you said, you know, through high school, college, I mean, I only lost four games last year. So there have been times of the season where it’s been, you know, really mentally taxing on me," he said. Injuries have compounded the issues: center Anthony Davis appeared in 20 games before a hand injury led to his trade to the Washington Wizards, while guard Kyrie Irving missed the entire season after tearing his ACL last year.

In 64 games, Flagg averaged 20.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.2 steals and nearly one block per game. He acknowledged being thrust into heavy responsibility earlier than anticipated, which fostered his growth and confidence.

Flagg hopes the experience yields long-term lessons. "Just not having success that I would’ve hoped for, and obviously, we’ve had a lot of injuries and a lot of unfortunate things happen throughout the year. It’s obviously not been ideal. I’ve had growth along the way, and I’ve had to get better and learn on the fly, but definitely not the start I would’ve looked for. Hopefully, eventually I’ll be able to look back on it and know that I was able to learn a lot from it," he said. The Mavericks face the Orlando Magic, who stand at 40-36, on Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET.