When you receive an endorsement from Stephen Curry, you know you’re on the right track as a young NBA player. That’s why Cooper Flagg has reason to smile about his performance this Christmas, even though his Dallas Mavericks lost 126-116 to Curry’s Golden State Warriors.
The 19-year-old Flagg (who just turned 19 on December 21) scored 27 points on 13 of 21 shots that day, becoming the Mavericks’ scoring leader, and also had 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
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It was another strong performance in a very productive December for Flagg, putting the No. 1 overall pick and Maine product back into the Rookie of the Year conversation. Flagg averaged 19.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists in his first 31 NBA games.
Curry presented flowers to Flagg after the Warriors’ Christmas Day game against the Mavericks.
“He’s a true shooter, a true competitor,” Curry said of Flagg. “You forget how young he is. Just the way he plays on the court (is mature). The future is bright. … The league is well run.”
Flagg is in hot form this month: averaging 24.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 steals per game. Before the game against the Warriors on December 23, he impressed the entire basketball world with his performance of 33 points, 9 rebounds, and 9 assists.
Flagg was born in Newport, Maine, and became a basketball prodigy at an early age. He started at Nokomis Regional High School and transferred to Montverde Academy in Florida, where he became the top-ranked player in the class of 2024. At Duke in 2024-25, Flagg showed off his versatile scoring, rebounding and defensive abilities to lead the Blue Devils to a deep run in the tournament and continue to solidify his status as the consensus No. 1 overall pick.
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