Cooper Flagg may be staying a little bit too close to his Duke roots.
The Dallas Mavericks rookie star Flagg sparked backlash on Saturday night with a controversial tripping foul against the Houston Rockets. Flagg was handling the ball near halfcourt in the first quarter at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas when Rockets forward Amen Thompson took it away from him.
As Thompson was about to run back up the floor for the easy basket, Flagg intentionally stuck out his leg and tripped Thompson. Here is the video.
Cooper Flagg received a flagrant foul after tripping Amen Thompson. pic.twitter.com/8YrE0a8c6n
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) January 4, 2026
Flagg was ultimately whistled for a flagrant 1 foul on the play. Thompson then proceeded to make both ensuing flagrant foul free throws.
In the end though, it was the Mavericks who won by a final score of 110-104. Flagg had a fairly quiet offensive game but still managed to stuff the stat sheet with 10 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two steals, and a block.
The 19-year-old Flagg has generally done things the right way in his rookie season and is slowly asserting himself as the Rookie of the Year favorite with overall averages of 19.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game. But that momentary lapse of judgment during Saturday’s contest had many thinking back to Flagg’s fellow Duke alum (and current Phoenix Suns guard) Grayson Allen, who was absolutely notorious for similar tripping incidents back during his college days.
