Cooper Flagg made his professional debut Thursday night in the NBA Summer League and celebrated an 87-85 win over Bronny James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Flagg finished with 10 points on 5-for-21 shooting, including 0 for 5 from 3-point range. He also had six rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block. Though Flagg struggled at times to find his groove, there were flashes as to why he was chosen No. 1 overall last month, doing plenty of little things that helped the Mavericks seal the win, including a key block near the end of the game.
Flagg swatted DJ Steward’s attempt with 1:10 remaining, and Ryan Nembhard made a 3-pointer at the other end to give Dallas the 87-85 lead.
“I couldn’t really get into a rhythm, it’s a different environment, obviously very different from college, it’s probably very different from what the real NBA is gonna be like,” Flagg said after the game. “The coaches had a lot of confidence in me. They’ve been telling me they want me to experiment, try some new things, and I was trying to be aggressive, and that’s new for me too.
“I would say that might be one of
Brittney Sykes scored 18 points, Shakira Austin had 16 points and eight rebounds, and the Washington Mystics closed on a 12-2 run to beat the short-handed Las Vegas Aces 70-68 on Thursday night.
Jewell Loyd led Las Vegas (9-11) with 20 points while Chelsea Gray added 13.
Washington trailed 66-58 with 3:45 remaining.
Austin grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back with 39.8 seconds left to play to give Washington its first lead, 69-68, since it was 15-13 in the first quarter.
Las Vegas had three chances to take the lead at the other end but came up empty.
Sykes was fouled with 4.3 seconds left and made a free throw for a two-point lead. After a timeout to advance to midcourt, Jackie Young took an inbounds pass at the top of the key and drove into the lane to attempt a layup, but Austin provided some defensive help under the basket and the ball rolled off the rim.