Cooper Flagg Praised by Klay Thompson for 'Fearless' Effort vs. Giannis, 'Incredible'
The first ray of hope in what has been a very depressing start to the season for the Dallas Mavericks came on Monday night when Cooper Flagg had the best game of his young career in a 116-114 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Flagg finished with a career-high 26 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out four assists in 35 minutes, earning high praise for his "fearless" and "incredible" effort from teammate Klay Thompson after the game.
"That was incredible," Thompson told reporters. "You kidding me? That's a Defensive Player of the Year, MVP. Fearless. I love that Cooper did that. I love that. He's not afraid of the moment. It's going to pay off huge dividends down the road."
Flagg showed a level of aggressiveness late in the game that indicates he's getting more comfortable. He grabbed a rebound with 38 seconds remaining and Dallas trailing 112-111, brought the ball up the court, did a spin move to get away from Gary Trent Jr. and hit a layup over Giannis Antetokounmpo to briefly give his team the lead.
While the end result was another loss for the Mavericks, who are now 3-8 through 11 games, there were positives to take away from this game. Flagg's performance being chief among them. Their 114 points were their second-most in a game all season, behind the 139 they put up against the Toronto Raptors on Oct. 26.
Even if they hadn't dug themselves this big of a hole to get out of in a deep Western Conference, the most important thing for the Mavs during the 2025-26 season was the development of Flagg as the go-to guy for this team.
Over his last three games, Flagg is averaging 16.7 points on 50.0 percent shooting, 7.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists. He averaged 14.4 points on 39.7 percent shooting, 6.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in his first eight starts.
Flagg and the Mavericks will look to get back in the win column on Wednesday when they host the Phoenix Suns.
