Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper Set Up the NBA’s Most Interesting Rivalry of the Next Decade
The NBA just got its next great young rivalry, and it might define the Western Conference for the next decade.
Cooper Flagg went No. 1 overall to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2025 NBA Draft. Dylan Harper went No. 2 to the San Antonio Spurs. Flagg won Rookie of the Year. Harper became the first Spurs rookie to record multiple playoff double-doubles since Tim Duncan in 1998, putting up 12 points and 10 assists in San Antonio’s Game 5 win over Minnesota in the conference semifinals.
Both of these guys are real. Both of these teams are now real. And both of these franchises play in the same division for the foreseeable future.
Flagg has been the player Dallas hoped he would be. He is a fiery help-side rim protector, a switchy defensive anchor and a smooth on-ball creator at 6-foot-9. The shot is starting to come around. The pull-up jumper is real. He is 19. He just won Rookie of the Year. He is going to be in the MVP conversation by Year 4 if he keeps developing on this curve.
Harper is the more polished offensive player at this stage. He runs the offense, makes good reads, and plays bigger than his listed size. His Summer League debut produced 16 points and six rebounds in a win over Dallas, which included a 31-point performance from Flagg. The Spurs took the head-to-head matchup in their first meeting. That is going to matter going forward.
The 2026 Draft is also right around the corner, and it is being called a generational class. AJ Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer, Caleb Wilson and Darryn Peterson are the top prospects. Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, AJ Dybantsa, Cam Boozer. That is a four-year stretch of incoming talent that the league has not seen in a long time.
For Dallas, the Flagg pick changed the franchise. They went from a team trying to figure out the post-Luka Doncic era to a team with a clear young foundation. Flagg’s defense alone changes what they can be schematically. Combined with their existing veterans, they are a real playoff team for the next decade.
For San Antonio, Harper is the perfect complement to Victor Wembanyama. The Spurs now have the most exciting young duo in the league. Wembanyama is in the Finals as a 22-year-old. Harper is running the offense as a rookie. Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and the rest of the supporting cast are still developing. Mitch Johnson has the pieces to compete for years.
The Mavericks-Spurs rivalry has always been simmering, but it is about to become must-watch television. These two teams play four times a year in the same division. Their best players are 19 and 20. They are going to be in playoff series against each other multiple times over the next decade.
This is the kind of organic competitive matchup the NBA has been missing for a while. It comes from two great young players who happen to play for two organizations that hate each other, and who are both going to be very good for a very long time.
Cooper Flagg vs. Dylan Harper is the early returns. The next five years are going to be incredible.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
