Mavericks' Cooper Flagg out for home opener with mild left shoulder sprain
An MRI Saturday morning found a mild left shoulder sprain, and the Mavericks will hold Cooper Flagg out of Saturday night's home opener against the San Antonio Spurs.
Flagg ruled out, shoulder sprain confirmed
Cooper Flagg will not play in the Mavericks' home opener Saturday night against the San Antonio Spurs. An MRI Saturday morning found a mild left shoulder sprain, and the team says he will be reevaluated next week. That is the extent of the firm details right now. No word on whether this stretches past one game, and no specific return date has gone out.
What is known is when it happened. Flagg went down late in the second quarter of Dallas's road win over the Indiana Pacers on Friday night and did not return. The Mavericks turned right around with a home game the next night, which is part of why this is the story getting attention. A mild sprain with a next-week reevaluation is not usually a long-term absence for a 19-year-old, but nothing beyond that word has come from the team.
The play that knocked him out
The shoulder issue traces to a flagrant foul from Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith. Flagg was on a breakaway late in the second quarter when Nesmith fouled him, hard enough to draw a flagrant call. Flagg left the game moments later and did not go back in.
We are not going to guess at intent here. The sheet says it was ruled a flagrant foul on a breakaway and that Flagg exited after it. That is as far as the facts go.
He was off to a big start
This one stings a little more because Flagg has been rolling. He scored 32 points in Wednesday's season-opening loss to the Houston Rockets, the highest-scoring performance by a teenager in a season opener ever recorded. Then against the Pacers on Friday, before the Nesmith foul ended his night, he put up 14 points, six assists, five rebounds, three steals and a block in just 17 minutes.
That is a full stat line packed into well under one half of basketball from the reigning Rookie of the Year.
What's next for Dallas
The Mavericks play the Spurs Saturday night without their best player on the floor. The only real marker for a return is the team's plan to reevaluate him next week. Until there is a new statement from Dallas, there is nothing more to add here.
Facts per ESPN. Opinion is the taproom's.