Starting on Sunday, there won’t be any 18-year-olds left in the NBA this season.
That’s because Cooper Flagg has a birthday coming up. The 18-year-old rookie from Newport, Maine and his twin brother Ace were born on Dec. 21, 2006.
Cooper Flagg will still be the youngest current player in the NBA after he turns 19 on Sunday, and he’ll also be able to boast one of the most prolific runs for an 18-year-old in league history.
With one game left to play before his birthday, Flagg is already a lock to finish in the all-time top-three for points scored in the NBA by an 18-year-old.
His company at the top? Just two guys named Lebron James and Kobe Bryant.
The gravity of finding a place among such legendary NBA figures isn’t lost on Flagg, according to his longtime player development coach Matt MacKenzie. But Flagg isn’t focused on trying to be anyone but himself.
“He’s somebody who studies the game. He’s somebody that has a lot of respect for the legends and the greats that have done this before him,” MacKenzie told the Bangor Daily News this week. “So I think that to hear his name in the same company as players like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, that’s meaningful to him. However, that’s not what drives him. I feel like he really just wants to be Cooper Flagg,”
Flagg will enter the weekend with the third most total points for an 18-year-old. He has an outside chance at catching Bryant, which is remarkable in itself because Bryant played his entire rookie season as an 18-year-old.
Through the first 26 games of the season, Flagg averaged more than 18 points, six rebounds and 3 assists per game. That’s top five for 18-year-olds in all three categories, and behind only James in scoring and assists. That firmly enshrines Flagg among the best-ever 18-year-old performers in league history.
But as he’s shown throughout his career, Flagg cares more about team wins than individual accolades or legendary comparisons.
“He’ll continue to do whatever it takes to be the best version of himself, day in and day out,” MacKenzie added. “But having said that, of course he feels very blessed to be in the position he is and to be considered one of the top 18-year-olds to ever play the game.”
When he recently beat James’ previous record for points scored in a game at age 18 by dropping 42 against the Jazz in overtime, Flagg was more focused on the team loss than his stat line.
“Obviously we didn’t win. So it’s tough for me to want to be happy, or any of that, but obviously it’s a success,” Flagg said earlier in the week.
It’s that attitude that has helped forge Flagg into an NBA starter at an age where, on anyone else’s timeline, he should only be a freshman in college. And it’s the same attitude that has helped Flagg work through early season adversity with his Dallas Mavericks teammates.
That challenge included Flagg having to play a new position immediately on arrival to the league, with Mavericks coach Jason Kidd giving him some early reps at point guard while Kyrie Irving continues to recover from an injury. Flagg has since settled into his more prototypical forward position and is seeing strong results.
The Mavericks have had some struggles early on and are toward the bottom of the Western Conference standings, but have been winning more games of late as key players like Anthony Davis return to the court and Flagg and other young players find their footing.
And while it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, MacKenzie sees the point guard experiment as beneficial for Flagg even though it elicited some criticism from fans.
“I think that it was very positive for his development, and I agree that I would not want him to be put in that position long term, but for a short period of time I think that it helped him get his feet wet,” MacKenzie said. “It allowed him to have the ball in his hands during pressure situations, and ultimately I feel like it helped him adjust to the NBA game.”
Kidd has emphasized Flagg’s age and the Maverick’s focus on his long-term development, not just immediate results right now.
“We’re playing the long game with him because of his age. We want to hopefully be a part of that successful story. He can handle that,” Kidd said recently, according to NBA.com. “He’s never come to me saying he doesn’t want to do something. He’s open to ideas and that’s kind of cool for a young kid that has all this information that’s pouring into him. Tell him one thing and he can deliver.”
And MacKenzie likes the way Flagg has been delivering as of late.
“Recently I feel like he’s continued to get more and more aggressive, especially on the offensive end, and the game has slowed down for him,” MacKenzie said. “He’s reading the spacing. He’s understanding that he can get to his spots on his own terms. And he’s really dictating that now. He doesn’t look rushed, he doesn’t look sped up. He looks like he’s really continuing to settle in game by game.”
Flagg always has responded well to being challenged, MacKenzie said, and the people around him will continue to do that as his rookie year moves forward.
“As we navigate the remainder of the NBA season, not only Jason Kidd and his staff but myself and his inner circle, we’re constantly giving him challenges,” MacKenzie said. “Even smaller examples within the game that he can focus on, really just to continue to find ways to assert himself and continue to push himself to be better individually and to continue to help his teammates be better as well.”
That includes continuing to develop his three-point shot at the pro level, where the arc is deeper than Flagg was used to in college.
“I think that that will come. Obviously there’s an adjustment to the distance, there’s an adjustment to the spacing and the time and space that he needs to be able to get that shot off,” MacKenzie said. “But he’s had a lot of success getting to the mid-range and then attacking the basket, and I think that the one area in terms of his offensive arsenal that will continue to improve is certainly his three-point percentage.”
And it certainly isn’t just Flagg’s inner circle that is noticing the early strides he is making in the NBA. It’s an inescapable reality for opposing coaches, as well.
Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle, who played part of his college career at the University of Maine, spoke with the Bangor Daily News after an early season matchup against Flagg and the Mavericks.
“His level of strength and physicality for an 18-year-old player is really exceptional,” Carlisle said about Flagg. “I just think his overall vibe as a young talent is unique. He’s so focused.”
Carlisle, who previously coached the Mavericks, called Flagg’s arrival an exciting development for the franchise and sees Flagg as a future face of the league.
“He’s a great young player with so much upside ahead of him,” Carlisle said.
As Flagg continues to develop, MacKenzie is often on the road with him, saying he’s there for about half of the Maverick’s games.
“It’s incredible, the records that he’s broken as an 18-year-old player in the NBA, just speaks volumes to how good he is as a basketball player, but also how mature and how ready he was for this opportunity,” MacKenzie said.
The longtime trainer said Flagg still has “a ton of growth” left in him as his NBA game and his body continue to develop. MacKenzie thinks Flagg’s best basketball of the year is still to come, and expects him to get even better around midseason of the rookie campaign.
“He’s gonna continue to break records and be able to have these milestones and breakthroughs in his career,” MacKenzie said. “And I think that you’re just seeing him scratch the surface of who he can even be as a rookie in this league.”