DALLAS — Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg injured his left shoulder on the opening possession of Monday night’s 101-94 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder and spent the vast majority of crunch time watching from the bench due to a coach’s decision.
Flagg finished with only two points on 1-of-9 shooting, two rebounds and no assists in 31 minutes, attributing his lackluster performance to being “flat” in the second game of his first NBA back-to-back.
Flagg, the No. 1 pick who scored 22 points in the previous night’s win over the Toronto Raptors, wore a large wrap with heat on his left shoulder when he was on the bench throughout the game. He received treatment and iced it postgame, and said he was optimistic that he would be available for Wednesday’s home game against the Indiana Pacers.
“We’re going to probably get some scans or whatever, make sure everything’s all clean, but I feel like it’s just a little sore,” said Flagg, who thought he injured his shoulder while boxing out. “Just want to keep an eye on it, ice it, do some rehab and should be good to go.”
Dallas trailed the defending champions by as many as 22 points but sliced the deficit to one with 54.8 seconds left before the Thunder pulled away. Flagg sat out almost all of crunch time, checking out with 8:14 remaining and subbing back in only for a pair of late defensive possessions.
Coach Jason Kidd credited Flagg for showing he’s a “tough kid” by playing through pain but said the decision to sit the 18-year-old down the stretch was based on giving the Mavs the best chance to win.
“It wasn’t his night tonight,” Kidd said. “We’re a team, and so understand that the group that was out there put us in the position to win the game. He wasn’t on the floor, but he was cheering for his teammates.”
Flagg acknowledged that being on the bench during crunch time was something he had never experienced before, but he had no issue with Kidd’s decision.
“The way the game was going, we had a group out there that was doing really well and was on a run, so I see where Coach was at with that,” Flagg said. “And I mean, I was flat. I wasn’t myself. I wasn’t impacting the game at a high level, wasn’t doing the right stuff. So obviously, that’s an easy decision for Coach. He was just out there trying to win the game.”