The Dallas Mavericks fanbase was blindsided on the night of February 1, 2025, when Luka Doncic was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis. The trade completely flopped, considering Doncic is the last one standing with his job intact. But one of the best NBA bench players in history says that night may repeat itself if Dallas doesn't get the right coach now.
On the sports talk program Run It Back on FanDuel TV, three-time Sixth Man of the Year award winner Lou Williams has Mavs fans thinking twice about another Doncic fumble happening in the future. In large part, the coach who gets hired will play a colossal role in helping Cooper Flagg feel comfortable in a new system. Williams put Mavs fans in PTSD when he talked about Flagg becoming another future trade piece.
"I don't want this to turn into a situation where we're looking at a young, talented player in four years, fly by, and he's on his third coach... I don't want this to be a rebuild, rebuild, rebuild, and you look up four, five years later and Cooper Flagg wants out."
Lou Williams warns Cooper Flagg may leave Dallas in the future if Mavs hire the wrong coach
Williams added that hopefully, Mavericks president Masai Ujiri will bring in the right guy, and by the right guy, everybody knows it's code building around Flagg.
A lot would have to happen, but the fanbase already loves Flagg, and it's clear Flagg loves the city back. It didn't take Mavs fans long to come up with their own tradition during the national anthem, as the home crowd inside American Airlines Center has begun chanting "Flagg!" by substituting the word "Flag" in the song.
It's clear the fanbase was hungry for another star to take the DFW spotlight, and from the NBA Lottery last year, fans knew they had another generational Mavericks star after on their hands after losing Doncic.
Ujiri says he didn't factor the Doncic trade when it came to Kidd's departure, but Ujiri and Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont clearly don't want another repeat of the Doncic nightmare. After fans chanted "Fire Nico" for months, it eventually led to Nico Harrison's firing, and the fans have shown they aren't afraid to use their voice to protect star players.
Former Mavericks forward Chandler Parsons added that there are some great coaches on the board, including Sean Sweeney, the San Antonio Spurs associate head coach who was with the Mavs under Jason Kidd for four seasons. The buzz around DFW seems to be favoring him as the next man, but the Mavs can't meet with him until San Antonio's season is done, which may happen right before the draft.
It's not looking likely that the Mavs will pursue Duke head coach Jon Scheyer, who is Flagg's college coach, but there are plenty of names on the board, like Tiago Splitter, Micah Nori, Billy Donovan and Frank Vogel.
Williams' main point is for Ujiri and Dumont to pick the right guy for the job now. If that happens, expect Flagg to be a Mavericks uniform for a long time.
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