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New York Times
14 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Times
WATCH: Cooper Flagg at point guard? How Mavericks used No. 1 pick in NBA Summer League
Cooper Flagg was the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft because he's a versatile, 6-foot-9 do-it-all wing. But what will he be for the Dallas Mavericks in his rookie season and beyond? That's the question coach Jason Kidd and his staff are beginning to answer. It started at NBA Summer League with a good old-fashioned point-guard boot camp. Advertisement The Mavericks weren't afraid to experiment with Flagg in his two games in Las Vegas. Flagg consistently brought the ball up the floor, dealing with pressure from opposing defenders. He operated in pick-and-rolls and was the Mavs' primary decision-maker. While the results were mixed, the start to Flagg's NBA journey provided a glimpse into the future for this generational prospect. This isn't the first time Kidd and his staff boldly used a young phenom's skillset. Back in 2016, when Kidd coached the Milwaukee Bucks, he told the world his plans to put the ball in the hands of a young 6-foot-11 wing. You might know his name: Giannis Antetokounmpo. Eight years later, Antetokounmpo is the Bucks' offensive hub and has averaged at least five assists every season since Kidd first planted those seeds. Flagg isn't new to handling the ball. In his lone season at Duke, Cooper led the team in assists, had nearly a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio and used 129 possessions as the pick-and-roll ballhandler. But there will still be a learning curve to playing on the ball at the NBA level, one that was evident during his two summer league games. As the video above shows, Flagg often struggled with his handle and creating separation. He also had several intriguing moments that showed off the potential for him to become the league's next great point forward. Summer league was the perfect arena for him and the Mavericks to test his pick-and-roll chops. With Kyrie Irving sidelined for most of this season, there will be more opportunities for Flagg to stretch his legs with the ball in his hands. And with Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington up front, Flagg might have to play on the perimeter more anyway. The hope, then, is that the process that began at summer league bears fruit in the long run. (Candice Ward / Imagn)
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
NFL star Maxx Crosby praises Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg
After being drafted No. 1 overall, Cooper Flagg was one player many anxiously awaited to see in action during Summer League. Though his time on the court was brief, it was still enough for the touted prospect to get a shoutout from a fellow pro athlete. With the festivities taking place in Las Vegas, there is an array of notable names floating around Summer League. Many are some of the game's top stars popping up to support some of their younger teammates. Ahead of NFL training camp, Las Vegas Raiders star Maxx Crosby was another notable name in attendance. While soaking in the action, Crosby had the chance to link up with Flagg. He ended up posting a picture of the two of them on social media while praising the NBA's next big prospect. Though he struggled from the field, Flagg managed to put together an all-around performance in his Summer League debut against the LA Lakers. He posted a stat line of 10 points, six rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Flagg would bounce back in a big way in his next outing against the San Antonio Spurs, erupting for 31 points, four rebounds, and one assist. Following this outing, the Mavericks decided they'd seen more than enough from Flagg and decided to shut him down for the remainder of Summer League. Looking ahead, Flagg will now begin preparing for his first NBA training camp in a couple of months. He finds himself with a tall task as a No. 1 pick, as he'll attempt to help a Mavericks team with championship aspirations in the Western Conference.
New York Times
a day ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Influx of NBA Draft-eligible players into college raises questions for league, union
LAS VEGAS — A few days before the NBA Draft, one of the league's top lawyers sent an email to all of its general managers about a small subset of players who could be selected later that week. The memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Athletic, addressed an obscure aspect of the league's draft-rights rules but also discussed the changes that resulted from the infusion of money into college basketball during the name, image and likeness era. Advertisement This year, several European players left their professional clubs in Europe to join college basketball programs in the United States. A small number of them were already 22 years old, which made them automatically eligible for the NBA Draft, according to league rules, which govern eligibility for players outside the NCAA system by their ages and not when they exhaust their collegiate eligibility or declare for the draft. What would happen if these players were drafted and still wanted to play college basketball? That question prompted the memo and left the league in a quandary about how to account for this new class of players — and a dilemma for the NCAA as well. College basketball may be close to being considered a pro sport, at least in the NBA's eyes. If an international player is drafted by an NBA team but chooses to stay with his professional team, the NBA club retains his draft rights in perpetuity — a draft-and-stash, as those players are sometimes known. But that has not been an issue for a college player, who, if drafted, would come straight to the NBA, either because he has no college eligibility left or declared early for the draft while maintaining eligibility. Here, none of those cases applied. While the memo only accounted for a 'limited' number of players, the NBA still had to figure out how to account for them. Based on the NBA's interpretation, such a player is no different from a draft-and-stash. It did not matter whether the player played for the University of Kansas or Real Madrid; the league would handle each player as if he were on a professional team. According to the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, a professional team or league is defined as any that pays a player beyond living expenses, which is where college sports now finds itself. While college athletes have received payments for NIL since 2021, those have been from collectives, companies and other external sources; now, with the newly enshrined House settlement, they can also be paid directly by their schools. 'Playing intercollegiate basketball will be considered under the provisions of Article X, Section 5 of the CBA to be signing a player contract with a non-NBA professional basketball team,' the memo said. But this was not necessarily a binding opinion, as the league's lawyer made clear. The National Basketball Players Association, the memo said, could potentially contest this interpretation. The union could argue that if such a player were taken in the draft, his rights would only belong to the team that selected him for a year before he became a free agent. Advertisement Because this is a new issue the NBA must deal with, and is not accounted for in the CBA, the league and union need to agree on these rules, and official guidance still needs to be hashed out. The two sides have talked about potential clarifications to the CBA to address such cases. One issue the league and union seem to agree on is what has happened to those players now. They are free to play in college, but, in the NBA's eyes, they are free agents. That means they can sign with a team at any point. This will impact only a few players, such as Illinois commit Mihailo Petrović, a 22-year-old guard from Mega Superbet of the Adriatic league, Ole Miss guard Ilias Kamardine of the French league and Louisville forward Sananda Fru, who played in Germany the last four seasons. Those players will not have to worry about their college eligibility, either. An NCAA spokesperson told The Athletic that its rules allow a player who is automatically entered into the draft to be selected without risking their NCAA eligibility. 'Under NCAA rules, if a player is drafted by an NBA team in the 2025 draft, he may still be eligible to compete for a D-I program provided he meets all other NCAA academic and athletics eligibility requirements and all other school and conference requirements,' the spokesperson said. That ruling should give some peace to the players involved. It also opens up a rarely seen portal to the NBA. There have not been many cases of a college basketball player leaving his team midseason to sign with an NBA team. The most recent case was 2007, when Randolph Morris played his junior year at Kentucky after he went unchosen in the 2005 NBA Draft, went back to school for two seasons (Morris had not signed with an agent) and signed with the New York Knicks in March. The Minnesota Timberwolves paid $90.4 million in luxury taxes for the 2024-25 season, second most in the league behind the Phoenix Suns. Next season, they will have new ownership as Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez finally took over this month after a protracted legal battle with former owner Glen Taylor. Advertisement After making the Western Conference finals in two straight seasons, the Timberwolves are set to pay into the luxury tax again during the 2025-26 season and own the fifth-highest payroll in the league. Lore, who will serve as Timberwolves governor, said he and Rodriguez are willing to pay the tax if they think it will benefit the franchise and its value in the long term. For now, the Timberwolves will pay the regular tax rates, but if they spend into the tax three times in a four-season stretch, they would pay the more punitive repeater tax rates if they are also in the tax the next season. 'We think about it like we do a startup, where startups lose money, but they're investing because it's creating enterprise value over the long term,' Lore said. 'And I think that's the way we think about. It is investing in the team, in winning, creates long-term franchise value. That's not over the next three to five years, but 10 to 20, the next 50 years, even. So, we're prepared to invest, we're prepared to lose money to create a winning culture. But a sustainable winning culture, not just a one year — you're not going to see us do what maybe people might expect us to do, which is come in as owners and make some big flashy move. We're being very methodical about the decisions we make, and we're thinking in every decision what's in the best interest of building a long-term, sustainable culture of winning.' NBA teams paid $461.2 million in luxury taxes this season, according to the league's calculations, after 10 teams finished the season above the tax line. The Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors were repeater taxpayers. The Lakers paid $53.48 million in luxury taxes after spending $17.45 million into the tax, while the Celtics paid $52.56 million and the Knicks paid $38 million. That means that the 20 teams that did not reach the luxury tax threshold will receive a nice payout from the league. They will each get $11.53 million for staying under the tax. (Photo of 2025 NBA Draft: Mike Lawrie / Getty Images)
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Pierre Noujaim sits down with Timberwolves top pick Joan Beringer
The Minnesota Timberwolves selected Joan Beringer out of France with the No. 17 overall pick in the NBA Draft. FOX 9's Pierre Noujaim sat down with him before the Timberwolves left for the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. In his debut, Beringer had 11 points, eight rebounds and tied a Summer League record with seven blocks.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
OKC Thunder Seemingly Strike Again After Summer League Showing
OKC Thunder Seemingly Strike Again After Summer League Showing originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Oklahoma City Thunder entered the offseason looking to make minimal changes to their roster after winning a championship last season and instead lcok in their core for the foreseeable future. That is exactly what the Thunder did as they signed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams to max contract extensions, locking in their young core that they hope can help them build a dynasty in Oklahoma City. While the Thunder have made little to no moves thus far this offseason, one of their selections in the 2025 NBA Draft has been showcasing his talent during the Summer League. That player is Brooks Barnhizer, who the Thunder selected 44th overall in the 2025 draft out of Northwestern. In five Summer League games thus far, Barnhizer is averaging nine points, nearly two assists, six rebounds, three steals and one block per game while shooting 50% from the field and 28% from three. Of course, the Thunder have already signed Barnhizer to a two-wat contract for next season but with his performances in Summer League thus far, he may end up being signed to a standard contract at some point next season like they did with Ajay Mitchell last year. For Barnhizer, he has not only showed off his offensive abilities that he was known for in college with the Wildcats but he has also proven to be a great defender, which is exactly what the Thunder are looking for on their roster. He is expected to begin next season in the G League with the Oklahoma City Blue but his skillset translates well to the NBA level and he could see some time with the Thunder next season. With his performances thus far, it appears Sam Presti may have found yet another diamond in the rough in the second round of the draft to go along with Thomas Sorber in the first round, who has not played in Summer League due to injury. This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 16, 2025, where it first appeared.
