The Dallas Mavericks are still trying to regain the trust and goodwill of the fanbase in the aftermath of the failed Luka Doncic trade. Anthony Davis is no longer on the team and Nico Harrison was fired as general manager. But if Mavericks rising star Cooper Flagg becomes the type of franchise cornerstone some are predicting him to be, that will go a long way towards smoothing things over with the fan base.

Coming into the 2026-27 season, his second in the NBA and second with the Mavericks, Cooper Flagg is among the players potentially making the leap to their first All-Star selection. That’s precisely what Nick Angstadt of Locked On Mavericks believes will happen.

“Cooper Flagg will be an All-Star this season. That is something I am confident in looking at this list … Cooper Flagg needs to be one of the best 12-15 players in the Western Conference,” Angstadt said. “You start going through how good of a season he can have, I expect him to have some kind of second-year step forward. We’ve seen some of the great players of all time do this … we’ve seen them take this big step from rookie year, adjusting to the NBA, figuring out your role.”

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Flagg certainly put the league on notice during his first season, en route to winning the Rookie of the Year Award. He appeared in 70 games at a little over 33 minutes per game. He led the Mavericks in scoring at 21.0 points, to go along with 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assist and 1.2 steals with splits of 46.8 percent shooting from the field, 29.5 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 82.7 percent shooting from the free-throw line.