Cooper Flagg, now a Dallas Maverick of course, will start his NBA career on October 22nd, four days before Duke and his former teammates visit Tennessee.
Starting against the Spurs, presumably with a healthy Victor Wembanyama, is an interesting challenge. And with fellow former Blue Devil Kyrie Irving still recovering from last spring’s ACL injury, Mavs coach Jason Kidd says he plans to run Flagg some at point guard to make him “uncomfortable.”
Like all NBA teams, the Mavs travel around the country and play all 30 teams.
The game that his home state fans are most looking forward to though, and this is probably true for Flagg too, is his first game against Boston. They play twice, with the Celtics visiting Dallas on February 3rd and the Mavericks [returning the favor on March 6th](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dkRp_VG_JY).
It’s way too early to call him the best player to ever come to out of New England. Calvin Murphy would argue the point and Patrick Ewing grew up in Massachusetts. But not many have bonded with the region as tightly as Flagg has. As many of you know, he grew up idolizing Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics and stepping out on the TD Court for the first time as a professional is likely to be a powerful moment for him.
He’s repeatedly made it clear that he’s devoted to his home state of Maine, and they absolutely return that love. It’s only about a three hour drive. Our guess is that fans from Maine, and specifically his hometown of Newport, show up in droves.
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