Cooper Flagg has never experienced anything like this Mavericks start

Cooper Flagg’s time at Duke and a powerhouse Florida prep program didn’t prepare the rookie phenom for this aspect of the NBA.

The 2025 No. 1 pick acknowledged the weight that losing in his rookie season has taken on him, after a 101-99 home loss to the lowly Pelicans on Wednesday dropped the Mavericks to 2-6.

Flagg experienced just four losses in his lone season with the Blue Devils.

“For me, it’s the most I’ve lost since, ya know, I think ever? It’s obviously a lot different and you have to adapt to playing a lot more games and get used to that,” Flagg said. “I wouldn’t say anybody’s happy, guys try to stay level-headed and know that we got a lot more games to go and it’s still really early.

“Speaking personally, I know it’s not fun to just keep losing and losing games, so (would) like to make a change and hopefully start taking steps in the right direction.”

Though the Mavericks are better than the usual team that would pick first, Kyrie Irving’s potential season-long absence and Anthony Davis being sidelined currently have limited the team’s upside.