If Cooper Flagg scores 24 points in his NBA regular season debut on Wednesday night, he’ll win someone in his Maine hometown a free ribeye steak.
That was the friendly agreement between a local grocery store owner and a customer on Wednesday morning, just a little under 12 hours before Flagg was set to see his first NBA regular season action against the San Antonio Spurs.
Bear’s One Stop owner Robert Berg has used his store’s road sign to predict Flagg’s stat line for the 9:30 p.m. game in Dallas. And Berg thinks the rookie will have 18 points, six rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block in his first official game after being drafted into the league first overall this summer.
Lori Hopkins of Newport is even more optimistic. She said while shopping at the local store that she’s expecting a 24-point game from the hometown hero.
That got Berg’s attention.
“If he scores 24 — you want a ribeye or a filet mignon?” Berg asked Hopkins after hearing her prediction. He added that he’d “absolutely” be happy to be proven wrong.
Whether Flagg delivers that steak for Hopkins or not, he’s already made her and people across his hometown proud. That will remain true no matter what his stats look like tonight against the Spurs.
“Doesn’t matter if he doesn’t get off the bench,” Hopkins said. “He’s still making us proud.”
Hopkins, a former Mrs. Maine pageant winner, knows what it’s like to represent the state. And she thinks Flagg is a fantastic ambassador for Maine and for the Newport area.
“I love how humble he is, and I love how humble his parents are,” Hopkins said.
She expects Flagg’s NBA debut to get plenty of attention around town.
“I think everybody’s going to be watching,” Hopkins said.
Newport Town Manager Dylan Lajoie said that some of the national attention that the town has received has waned since June when it became a focal point of the NBA draft. But even as the ESPN cameras have left, the local energy and support for Flagg remains.
“This is your neighbor,” said Lajoie, who wasn’t concerned about Flagg’s point total in the debut game. “It doesn’t matter. He’s in the NBA. He’s living the dream.”
Wednesday night will be a major milestone as that dream continues. And with the 9:30 p.m. Eastern start time, fans here in Maine will have to stay up late to watch another historic moment for the Pine Tree State’s first-ever top NBA draft pick.
“He’s past my bedtime in Dallas,” said Newport Metals owner Jason Erb, who has been recording Flagg’s preseason games and watching them later, but expects to stay up for this one.
Erb predicted 13 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists for Flagg in the regular season opener.
Newport’s Jeff Nickerson played baseball with Flagg’s grandfather, Dan Bowman, and thinks the NBA rookie has the right work ethic and genetics to succeed as a professional. He also expects Flagg to keep growing, given that he’s only 18 years old.
As for Berg’s 18-point prediction for game one?
“Eighteen points, that ain’t bad,” Nickerson said, conceding that Flagg fans might end up seeing a little under that given that it’s his first game in the NBA. But you never know with Flagg, Nickerson added.
“Well, he is well-rounded,” Nickerson said. He does it all.”
Like many other folks in Newport, he watched Flagg’s college games at Duke University last season. And he thinks that trend of local support will continue in the pros.
“There’ll be a lot of people from Maine watching that tonight,” Nickerson said.
And they’ll be watching throughout Flagg’s budding NBA career. The small town of Newport, and the small state of Maine, have never seen anything quite like this.
“For a town this size, Cooper going to the NBA and playing is just like having a close family member go and do it, right?” Lajoie said about the impact in Newport. “Everybody knows each other. Everybody went to school with the Flagg brothers and the Flagg family over the years. It’s a tight-knit community.”
Lajoie also likes the look of the Mavericks team that Flagg has joined in Dallas, which features several veteran NBA champions and young talent from Flagg and others. The town manager wouldn’t be surprised to see the Mavericks win a championship in the next four years.
“The thing I’m really looking forward to is seeing an NBA championship trophy coming down Main Street, and hosting a parade for Cooper when that happens,” Lajoie said.