This just in according to Shams. The Dallas Mavericks are trading Cooper Flagg to the Los Angeles Lakers in return for Dalton Knecht. More details to follow.

Rob just needs to have one glass of wine with Nico. They made magic before. 🍷👉👈🥺

No one in particular, but if you really wanna know…

It rhymes with “Muka Dawn Chich” and “Blasphemy Tavis”

Lakers could use Dlo off the bench but I can’t picture him in a Lakers jersey.

Lebron to the Mavs for Kyrie and PJ

Would you throw Max Christie in too or is that too much?

I cannot picture Luka in a Mavs jersey, just not a good fit honestly.

Austin is great as third option. He isn’t a top two option or a great passer. I’m not hating. From undrafted to starter us solid but he isn’t going to improve much more

Reaves

DPOY caliber player for injury prone guy? Lakers would keep Gabe and got some picks at least.

Yeah but in that world they wouldn’t have gotten Flagg because the only reason they were in their draft position to begin with is because they only had AD for 9 games last season. With LeBron they probably win more games last season and don’t end up with Flagg. It’s some butterfly effect stuff but as dumb as either LeBron for Luka or AD for Luka would’ve been, the Mavs are probably better off long term with AD + Flagg than LeBron + whoever else they would’ve gotten with a lower pick (and would’ve been better off if they kept Luka, who they’d already successfully built a team around, than either scenario lol)

And the Wolves are also not starting a classic point guard. Interesting times

Small ball was always a lie. It was a temporary stopgap at the time because analytics discovered that having as many players with perimeter skills on the floor as possible helps win games, but at the time there weren’t as many skilled bigs because it would take time for AAU and college to catch up. Now that the lower levels have caught up and there are a lot more skilled bigs available, small ball is dead.

Mavs without Kyrie way different than Rockets tho lol. I love that game becoming bigger again and excited to see different teams etc. but i really doubt this 5 (with Kyrie its different obv) gonna work. There isnt a offensive creation in this lineup. I bet there is gonna be rotations where Naji or Dlo on floor lots of times but as a 5 man squad that team way worse than Rockets on offence.

Double Big might be the new meta

Amen is wayyyy more of a point guard than Flagg

Thompson isn’t a 4. But yeah.

Yeah Klay gets targeted by small guards now.

Came here to say this. He’s functionally a 4.

Angel Reese is truly changing the game rn

I mean if you’re listing their best players in order their best 5 players all have their best position as 4s and 5s.

AD - 5 Flagg - 4 Lively - 5 Gafford - 5 Washington - 4 Klay - 3

Their top 6 players doesn’t include any guards. You have to start Klay at the 2 on this team because their spacing, even if you went with D Lo at the point, is horrendous but uh… You just gotta play huge because otherwise who do you even play?

He used to punch Giannis?

theyre just talking out of their ass

Giannis also grew 5 inches and what feels like 700 pounds. Amen was also a PG, turned SF. (Now PG again, almost 1-1 turnover ratio 1st game) Giannis was a PG turned PF. Ben Simmons played PG for like 6 years, but has been a PF/C for the rest of his career. Notice how they went from PG to a wing? What about the opposite?

Jeremy Sochan played PG for the spurs, it was hell. He’s back to PF. Scottie Barnes tried to go from PF to PG/SG for a short time. Didn’t work. If you want some historical examples TMac and Pippen played PG for small stretches. That also, unsurprisingly, did not work.

TLDR: Wings don’t become PGs. You can play make with your scoring gravity and passing skills, but you rarely have the facilitating ability to be a full time PG. A few tall PGs become bigs though, especially if they can’t shoot, like Giannis.

Flagg is not a point guard

well there’s gonna be a bunch of legit NBA defender’s in this one

Gee it’s almost as if NBA games are filled with legit NBA defenders

I’m a huge CB fan, I just found this funny lol

Flagg is not a PG and you’re not gonna win games with a natural 4 running your offense in his fucking rookie season lmao

Yup. He better get use to running targeted pick n rolls to get favorable matchups every possession because that’s basically the game now. Him getting comfortable dribbling with NBA pressure early will help him.

Zion has always been a good passer and ball handler

Rookie Giannis was 6’9” and skinnier

Flagg is likely best off playing a ¹⁄₃ hybrid but he’s 18. Who knows what he’s going to be at 22.

Hell, he might not even be done growing

Agreed. They just need to get in the play in and will be dangerous. People are really underrating them

Maybe the Lakers. I wonder if they’d give up Luka for him

What team would even make sense? I tried some trade machining. The only maybe I could find was to the Pistons for Ivey, Harris, and LeVert.

for sure .. but having him be the primary ball handler on a team with little spacing isn’t ideal

True but to be fair number one pics very rarely are put in situations where they’re being asked to play not to their strengths while simultaneously having expectations to win. It’s one thing if he’s on a tanking team screwing around and experimenting like Victor did with the Spurs, but the Mavericks have been very vocal that this is a team with expectations of competing for a championship sooner than later if they really are expecting him to develop into a primary Creator and a playmaker as an 18-year-old on a team that very much is expecting to be winning 50 plus games next year… Yeah that’s not normal for a number one pick and that’s a stupid amount of pressure they’re putting on him

It could end up being for the best. But he is Definitely being set up to struggle out of the gate

Giannis was in like his third year when he got the keys

JT was a spot up guy his rookie year until Kyrie got hurt

Flagg is doing this day 1

nba2k builds have gone too far

Coopers development matters more

Flagg, Lively, PJ would be an incredible defensive core. You may need a playmaker, Luka type guy. Those are easy enough to find.

The best destination I can see would be AD to the Hawks. As a bonus, It would potentially weaken the Spurs draft haul from the Hawks, and the Mavs 2026 pick would potentially be better.

Hawks have the Pels pick and others. If they’d trade Porzingis and Jalen Johnson and the Pels pick Dallas would have to do that. I’m not 100% sure Atlanta would give that much up for AD. If they don’t include Jalen Johnson, it would be Risacher, and 3 or 4 firsts.