Description

Cooper Flagg arrived in the NBA as the most hyped prospect in years, and this is his true rookie card from his first licensed Topps set as a professional. Before he ever put on a Mavericks jersey, Flagg had already reclassified a year early out of Maine, enrolled at Duke as a 17-year-old, and spent a single college season making history: he was the fourth freshman ever to be named national player of the year, sweeping the Wooden, Naismith, AP and USBWA awards in a class that includes Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson. He led Duke in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks on the way to a 35-4 record and a Final Four trip, and he did it after breaking the ACC freshman scoring record with a 42-point night against Notre Dame. The path to Dallas was not scripted. The Mavericks had just traded away franchise cornerstone Luka Dončić to the Lakers, a move that outraged their fan base, and the team then won the draft lottery despite only 1.8% odds. That long-shot bounce handed Dallas the No. 1 pick and, with it, Flagg — the second-youngest No. 1 selection in draft history behind only LeBron James, and the first No. 1 pick for the franchise since 1981. He did not ease into the league. Asked to play a position he had barely handled in college, the 19-year-old led the Mavericks outright in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals as a rookie, a feat matched by no rookie since Michael Jordan in 1984-85. He dealt with an ankle injury down the stretch but still played 70 games, closing with a historic run that included a 51-point game against Orlando — making him the youngest player in NBA history to score 50 in a game — and a near triple-double of 45 points days later against the Lakers. He was voted Rookie of the Year in one of the closest races in the award's modern history, edging former Duke teammate Kon Knueppel by just 12 first-place votes. This card, number BB-1 in Topps' 2025-26 Big Box Ballers insert set, is part of the first wave of licensed cardboard documenting that rookie season — issued the same year he went first overall and was later crowned Rookie of the Year. It captures a player whose college dominance, draft circumstances and debut-season numbers were compared, almost from day one, to the league's all-time greats.