Contender or mid? This is how the Dallas Mavs’ starting five looks with Cooper Flagg

What next for the Dallas Mavericks? So far 2025 has been a year of incredible upheaval for the Mavs organization but a bright new dawn could be on the horizon.

On Wednesday the Mavericks front office confirmed the news that had been long-expected, that Cooper Flagg would be the No. 1 pick at the 2025 NBA Draft. Flagg’s status was never in doubt but a move to Dallas looked unlikely, given the team’s 1.8% chance of coming out of the Draft Lottery with the first pick.

Dallas got lucky and they have the chance to add a generational talent to a team in the middle of a transformation.

Last year the Mavs stunned the league by sending superstar guard Luka Doncic to the LA Lakers and getting Anthony Davis in return, as part of a massive blockbuster trade. Can the Mavericks combine the young starlet flag with veteran talents like Davis and Kyrie Irving?

As it stands the Mavericks’ first-choice starting five would likely be: Kyrie Irving (point guard), Klay Thompson (shooting guard), Cooper Flagg (small forward), Anthony Davis (power forward), Dereck Lively II (center).

The Mavericks will hope that Lively (21 years old) and Flagg (18) can provide the youthful experience to carry the team forward and compliment the older players. However the front office still has work to do to fortify the team and challenge for a championship.

This year they have lost Doncic and replaced him, in a sense, with Davis. That means that they are now down a guard. They will also be without Irving for much of 2025/26 as he recovers from a torn ACL, an injury that could keep him out until January. The Mavericks will certainly look to bring in another guard this offseason and much of their system could depend on how head coach Jason Kidd chooses to utilize Flagg, who has a great degree of versatility at this stage in his career.

“I see a young man who is only 18 years old who can do a lot of things,” Kidd said recently. “He won’t be 19 until December, which is really surprising, but I think when you talk about being able to play 2 through 4, and in today’s game, you might be able to sneak him around the five, if we’re going to label him as a position player.”

The Dallas Mavericks are hoping that this is the start of a glorious new era for the organization, built around the virtuoso talents of Cooper Flagg. But with other acquisitions needed and a limited time frame to take advantage of their veteran talents, a lot needs to go right for Dallas to once again be a championship-contending team.

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