Mavs provided 26 hints to their Cooper Flagg rookie season usage plans

The Cooper Flagg era has arrived for the Dallas Mavericks.

He'll suit up for his first regular season action this week. The No. 1 overall pick out of Duke has seemed NBA-ready for a couple years now, and he'll finally get his chance to prove that.

One point of intrigue around Flagg is his usage. What do the Mavericks plan to do with him on the floor?

They provided hints in the preseason, 26 of them, to be exact.

That's the amount of possessions that Flagg brought the ball up the floor, according to ESPN.

In other words: He's going to spend time as a point guard.

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The Mavs have D'Angelo Russell to fill that role conceptually with Kyrie Irving out. But if Flagg proves capable of doing it, it'll be his basketball to control.

Flagg is likely the best distributor among the Mavs' main rotation players, so their best plan of action is to get the ball into his hands.

ESPN projects Flagg to average 4.3 assists per game this season, a number that could be even higher if he truly spends a lot of time as the lead ball-handler.

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No matter how Dallas uses Flagg this season, it's just the start.

His future is immensely bright, and he can do just about anything on a basketball court. His role could change a handful of times throughout his NBA career, but one thing is already clear: Flagg will be one of the best players on the floor, at all times, for a long time.

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