The Dallas Mavericks have a potential franchise building block for the future in Cooper Flagg. And Dereck Lively II is going to make sure Flagg is "comfortable" in Dallas.
"I’m making sure that he’s feeling as comfortable as possible, giving him any little detail or any little thing to give him,” Lively said at the Mavs Academy Hoop Camp on Sunday. “Because whenever I was in his position, I remember how frightened I was, and I was only 19 and he’s 18.”
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Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II
Apr 18, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II (2) stretches prior to the game against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
There are a lot of similarities between Flagg and Lively. They're both top overall recruits who went to Duke, moved to a new city as a teenager, and were drafted by the Dallas Mavericks (technically speaking). That's why Lively wants to do everything he can to help the former Blue Devil.
Although they never played together at Duke, Lively is very familiar with Flagg, saying that he's "probably known him for a couple years now."
Flagg on the team makes a pair of unique trios. The Mavericks will be one of the few NBA teams to have three first overall picks on the same team, with Flagg joining Kyrie Irving (2011) and Anthony Davis (2012). It will be a while before we see all three of them on the floor together, as Irving is recovering from ACL surgery and may not be back until around the All-Star Break next season.
Flagg, Irving, and Lively are also all three former one-and-done Duke Blue Devils. Duke coach Jon Scheyer told Flagg he's going to love playing with Dereck Lively, who was Scheyer's first draft pick. Had Lively not dealt with injuries in college, he may have gone higher in the 2023 Draft than he did.
Lively day 🙌 @DereckLively // #MFFL pic.twitter.com/2bsu23Cpu9
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) August 3, 2025
Kyrie Irving will be the starting point guard once he comes back, but until then, the starting lineup is likely to be D'Angelo Russell, Klay Thompson, Cooper Flagg, Anthony Davis, and Dereck Lively II, assuming everyone is healthy. That leaves a bench lineup of Brandon Williams, Max Christie, Naji Marshall, P.J. Washington, and Daniel Gafford until Dante Exum officially re-signs. Caleb Martin will likely be in the rotation too.
People have doubts about the Mavericks having enough playmaking or spacing to be an effective offense, or even enough point-of-attack defense to be as good on that end of the floor as they want.
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