Mavericks rumor: How does Kyrie Irving feel about the team winning the Cooper Flag draw?

After the Mavericks won the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft at the draw ceremony, Kyrie Irving excitedly said he was looking forward to joining forces with Cooper Flag.

Another NBA draft draw ceremony was lost, which once again gave fans a reason to say that there was fraud in the process. In any case, the Dallas Mavericks received a generous compensation for the Luka Doncic's trade failure, winning the 2025 NBA draft No. 1 pick, which is likely to go to Duke's Cooper Flag.

With the arrival of a new era of the Mavericks, Kyrie Irving is excited to be involved. According to Hoops Wire’s Sam Amico , 33-year-old Irving knew his turnaround was about to disappear, but he couldn’t wait to help Dallas enter the Flag era.

"In fact, a person familiar with the matter told Hoops Wire that Irving was ‘very excited’ about the possibility of joining forces with Flag, calling it a ‘a rare opportunity to shape the future with a player with Duke’s heritage, unlimited potential’,” Amico wrote. The Mavericks were initially considered to have less than 2% chance of winning the NBA draft draw, but eventually succeeded. One of the most anticipated rookies of the past decade, Flag has been the predicted No. 1 pick last year, and every performance at Duke has further cemented that belief.

Mavericks Kyrie Irving is ready to hand over the baton to Cooper Flag

Irving is a very explosive point guard, completely different from Flag, who is 6-foot-9 (about 1.9 meters). However, the similarities between the two's careers are obvious, the former is more than a decade earlier than the latter.

As Flag predicted, Irving was the No. 1 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. Shortly after LeBron James left Cleveland for the Miami Heat, he came to Cleveland and started the team's rebuilding journey. Irving won Rookie of the Year, four All-Stars, one for the NBA All-Series, and won the NBA championship with the Cavaliers before being traded to the Boston Celtics in 2017.

Eight years later, after the Mavericks puzzlingly traded Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, Irving returned to the core of the offensive position. However, Irving may invest a lot of time in Flag's rookie season as he suffered an ACL torn in March. Due to his recovery period, he is likely to miss the entire 2025-2026 season, but may return at the end of the season.