Remember the uproar when the Dallas Mavericks secured the first overall pick in the lottery and used it to select Cooper Flagg? Well, the Mavs (currently 3-8) appear to have desperately needed that infusion of talent, as the team is clearly pointed in the wrong direction this season. Two of their three victories have come against bottom-four teams, the Washington Wizards and the Indiana Pacers, who have even worse records.
Conversely, the Los Angeles Lakers (8-3), who acquired Luka Doncic in the trade, are enjoying a fantastic start to their campaign. The rationale behind General Manager Nico Harrison shipping out a generational talent remains baffling, but the results speak for themselves.
Doncic is skyrocketing to the top of the MVP conversation, averaging a stunning 37.1 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 9.1 assists through his first seven games, scoring 35 or more points in five of them. While we still need to see how the team’s dynamics adjust when LeBron James finally makes his debut, the early returns on the Doncic-Lakers trade show an unmistakable winner, and the margin isn’t even close.
Rookie Sensation Cooper Flagg Shines Amidst Dallas’ Disarray
For the struggling Mavericks, rookie Cooper Flagg has been the singular beam of light. Flagg is posting solid numbers, averaging 15 points and 6.8 rebounds, having reached double figures in 10 of the team’s 11 contests. He recently recorded his career high (26pts) in a tight loss to the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo-a fellow MVP frontrunner alongside Luka, Nikola Jokic, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
However, Flagg’s stellar individual play cannot mask the team’s underlying problems. The Mavericks are deeply missing key pieces, most notably the sidelined Kyrie Irving, who is not expected back until 2026. Furthermore, key offensive role players like D’Angelo Russell and Klay Thompson-who were supposed to step up and command the offense-are having terrible starts to the season.
Outside of Flagg, P.J. Washington is arguably the team’s most consistent contributor. These abysmal results make the dismissal of GM Nico Harrison seem increasingly imminent. When you trade a player of Doncic caliber-a 26-year-old entering the prime of his career-it is an unforgivable error that defines an executive’s tenure.
Doncic and Reaves Ignite Lakers’ Offense, Awaiting King James
Meanwhile, the Lakers, who are still awaiting the highly anticipated debut of LeBron James, are showing electrifying basketball with Doncic and Austin Reaves taking the helm. Reaves’s ascent has been nothing short of spectacular, averaging 30 points across his eight games. Following the trajectory of his young career, he continues to improve his box score stats year over year and is firmly tracking toward his first All-Star appearance.
Reaves’s success is only likely to deepen upon James’s return. The combination of LeBron and Luka generates such gravitational pull from opposing defenses that it naturally creates more open space for a sharp-shooter and secondary creator like Reaves.
Good news for Los Angeles, terrible news for Dallas, and the worst news of all for Nico Harrison. The season is still in its early stages and has a long way to go, but mark your calendars: the first face-off between these two teams is scheduled for November 29th in Dallas.
