Jason Kidd is basically the conductor of the Cooper Flagg hype train at this point.
The Dallas Mavericks got heated with officials during Friday’s game against the Orlando Magic for arguing for Flagg’s sake and eventually got ejected from American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. Flagg was upset over a no-call on a drive that led to the rookie getting a technical foul. Kidd picked it up from there.
FULL MOMENT: Cooper Flagg gets a tech for arguing a no call and then Jason Kidd & Naji Marshall ejected pic.twitter.com/WytlDESjWm
— NBAbzy (@nbabzyy) April 4, 2026
Flagg couldn’t power the Mavericks to victory in honor of their coach, but he did manage to record the very first 50-point game by a teenager in NBA history. The Mavs wunderkind scored 51 points on just 30 shots in a 138-127 loss.
Kidd, who was definitely watching Flagg achieve the feat from the locker room, made a bold claim as he spoke to reporters during his postgame press conference. Kidd not only touted Flagg as the clear Rookie of the Year, but he put him in the GOAT trajectory alongside Michael Jordan.
“He should be Rookie of the Year. It’s unbelievable,” Kidd said, via ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “The country is not watching the same thing that we get to watch on a daily basis. The things that he’s done, he’s in rare air. He’s with the GOAT when you talk about MJ and what he did in his rookie year — and as a teenager.”
Flagg has had one of the best rookie campaigns in recent memory, averaging 20.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.5 assists on 46.7% shooting as the focal point of a rebuilding Mavs team. But Jordan was on a different stratosphere as a rookie, putting up 28.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 2.4 steals on a 51.5% clip in his first season with the Chicago Bulls.
MJ never scored 50 as a rookie, but did breach the 45-point mark four times — something Flagg has only done twice, including Friday’s 51-point effort.
In all fairness to Flagg, he’s doing all this just months after turning 19. Jordan turned 22 by the end of his rookie campaign. The improvement Flagg has shown since his disastrous first game has been immense. One can only imagine how good he’ll be once he gets a few seasons under his belt.
