There comes a point in a season where a player stops being a promising young talent and starts being the entire reason a franchise shows up to the arena. For the Dallas Mavericks, that point arrived a long time ago. But right now, with the regular season entering its final stretch and four key rotation players listed as doubtful heading into Tuesday’s road game against the Los Angeles Clippers, the weight sitting on Cooper Flagg’s nineteen-year-old shoulders is almost too much to put into words.
Daniel Gafford, Caleb Martin, P.J. Washington, and Brandon Williams are all listed as doubtful for Tuesday’s game at the Intuit Dome. Washington’s potential absence is particularly significant. The forward has been one of Dallas’ most reliable contributors this season, averaging 14.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists across 56 games. Without him and the others, the Mavericks are essentially rolling out a skeleton crew and asking Flagg to fill every gap that opens up.
And somehow, he keeps doing it.
Flagg scored 45 points against the Lakers two nights after the 19-year-old rookie scored 51 to become the first NBA teenager with a 50-point outing. That back-to-back performance placed him in historical company that most players never reach in an entire career. The back-to-back 45-point games make Flagg just the third rookie in NBA history to record consecutive games with at least 45 points, joining Walt Bellamy and Wilt Chamberlain. Let that sink in. The names he is being mentioned alongside are not just great players. They are the foundation stones of the entire sport.
He is a combined 33-of-57 from the floor over those two games, including 8-of-13 from three-point range. The efficiency on top of the volume is what separates a hot streak from something genuinely historic. Anyone can put up big numbers by forcing shots. Flagg is doing it while being suffocatingly doubled and triple-teamed by every defense that steps on the floor against him.
The Clippers matchup presents a different kind of test. The Clippers enter at 40-38 and eighth in the West while the Mavericks are 25-53 and 11th. The Clippers are 21-17 at home and the Mavericks are 10-27 on the road. Los Angeles needs this game for their playoff positioning. Dallas needs this game for Flagg’s Rookie of the Year case. Kawhi Leonard is putting up 28.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists for the Clippers  meaning Flagg will be going up against one of the most complete two-way players the NBA has seen in the modern era.
Two of the Mavericks’ previous three games against the Clippers this season have gone into overtime. Both times, Flagg was the reason Dallas was still standing at the end of regulation. His ability to take over late-game situations against a team this physical and this experienced speaks to something that simply cannot be taught or developed on a timeline. Some players are just built differently and Flagg is proving that every single night.
His 96 points in a two-game span is a mark only bested in NBA history by Wilt Chamberlain during his rookie year. The Rookie of the Year race is tightening by the hour. The Mavericks are undermanned and overmatched on paper heading into Tuesday. But they have something the Clippers do not. They have the most compelling player in basketball right now and he is not showing any signs of slowing down.
