YouTube Gold: The Rise Of Rookie Cooper Flagg

Story byjulian kingSun, December 7, 2025 at 11:22 AM UTC·1 min readLike most rookies – well, not Kon Knueppel so much – Cooper Flagg had an adjustment period to the NBA. His was more complicated than a lot of others because first, so much was expected of Flagg and second, his life was complicated when the Dallas Mavericks wanted him to play point. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHe’s certainly capable of that, but asking it of an 18-year-old, 6-9 rookie is probably asking too much. They’ve since backed off and moved him to forward, and now the league is beginning to see what Duke fans saw last year: Flagg is an apex predator. In this video, the narrator shows some highlights of what he did to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets and just how rapidly he is figuring things out. To be clear, Jokic imposes himself on the game in a way that few do and he racked up 29 points and 20 rebounds and 13 assists against the Mavs. However, Flagg imposed himself too. He finished with 24 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAnd the Mavericks, now improving, got the win. And after a slow start, Flagg, along with his former Duke teammate Knueppel, are co-favorites for Rookie of the Year.