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"Keep your head up" - Dirk Nowitzki has a powerful message to struggling Cooper Flagg
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- "Keep your head up" - Dirk Nowitzki has a powerful message to struggling Cooper Flagg
2025 NBA Draft top pick Cooper Flagg has struggled to start his NBA career. After 10 games played so far, Flagg has averaged just 13.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game while shooting only 40.3 percent from the floor and 27.0 percent from 3-point distance.
With Flagg sounding down and seemingly frustrated during his post-game interview after the Dallas Mavericks ' loss to the New Orleans Pelicans three games ago, Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki gave a message to hopefully inspire the Mavs ' rookie to keep on fighting.
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" Cooper, I would just keep on working," said Dirk. "I mean, you have a tremendous work ethic, so you work your way through it. You come in the next day, you're the first one in the gym. You get shots up, get your run, get an assistant coach, watch film, and you just get better. That's the bottom line."
Dirk began his NBA career worse than Coop
If Cooper studied his team's history, he would know that before Dirk won the MVP and later the 2011 NBA championship, he struggled more in his rookie year in Dallas.
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A 20-year-old Dirk put up just 8.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game while shooting 40.5 percent from the field and 20.6 percent from 3-point distance during his rookie year with the Mavs. The Mavs were also just 19-31 in a shortened season, or the equivalent of a 31-win year during a regular 82-game campaign.
During an era when seven-footers played like traditional big men, many wondered if Nowitzki would last long in the league because he was deemed soft, and he preferred shooting outside shots over taking the ball strong to the basket. But despite the criticisms, he persevered and remained true to himself and his game, ultimately becoming the first stretch four of this basketball era and retiring as a Hall of Famer.
"Losing or not, you keep a positive attitude, you get there to get better every day. You play every position. You had a shot to get the game-winner the other day, or at least to tie the game at the end. That's great for you, great reps to be in that position. So keep on working, my friend. Keep your head up and things will be okay," added Dirk.
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Losing is starting to affect Flagg
It can be recalled that after the Mavs dropped to 2-6 on the season following their loss to the Pelicans three games ago, Flagg mentioned during the post-game press conference that his team's current struggles are the worst stretch of losing he's experienced in his entire basketball career. And while he didn't say it outright, he sounded frustrated and deflated.
"For me, it's the most I've lost since, I think, ever," Flagg admitted . "It's obviously a lot different, and you have to adapt to just playing a lot more games and get used to that. I wouldn't say anybody's happy. Guys are obviously trying to stay level-headed and know that we got a lot more games to go and it's still really early. But I mean, I'm speaking personally. I know it's not fun to just keep losing games. So, I like to make a change and hopefully start making steps for our direction."
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Since then, the Mavs are 1-1 as they snapped a four-game losing streak on Saturday night with a 111-105 win over the Washington Wizards . Flagg still struggled to shoot in that game, but he had a decent all-around effort with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals. Hopefully, Dirk's message reached Coop because he needs to stay strong during these trying times. After all, keeping the faith and the hard work is the only way he'll get through it.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Nov 9, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
