Cooper Flagg is officially in the phase of his career where his facial expressions become national content. Welcome to being the biggest new star in the NBA.
The Dallas Mavericks rookie was courtside at American Airlines Center on Thursday night to watch the Dallas Wings host the Indiana Fever. He was sitting with girlfriend Arianna Roberson, a Duke women’s basketball player. What Roberson said to Flagg during the broadcast is unclear. What is clear is Flagg’s response.
The camera caught Roberson turning to Flagg and whispering something. Flagg immediately rolled his eyes in classic annoyed-boyfriend fashion. That is all NBA Twitter needed.
The reactions were immediate and merciless. Some fans compared the moment to James Harden’s iconic side-eye. Others speculated Roberson was ragebaiting him with something silly. One popular tweet imagined she asked him, “would you still like me if I was a basketball,” which is exactly the kind of nonsense you say to a professional basketball player.
Whatever she said, it landed. Flagg looked more bothered than he did during any Summer League game.
This is a small but interesting inflection point for Flagg’s public life. He came into the league as the most-hyped American prospect in years, arrived in Dallas as the centerpiece of a franchise trying to reset after the Luka Doncic era, and now he is at the moment where even his facial expressions go viral. That is a fast trajectory.
It also happens to be exactly the kind of thing Dallas fans should be delighted about. Flagg being a household name, in every conversation, is good for the franchise. Merchandising is a real thing. Being courtside at a Wings-Fever showdown against Caitlin Clark is not a small piece of national attention.
The game itself was pretty good too. The Wings, led by 32 points from Arike Ogunbowale and 26 from Jessica Shepperd, beat the Fever 91-85. Dallas kept Caitlin Clark in check all night. She finished with just 10 points on 4-of-15 shooting.
Flagg presumably enjoyed watching the Wings pull that upset. Whether he actually enjoyed the sideline conversation with Roberson is a different question.
The couple has been together since their Duke days and this is not the first time they have gone viral together. They will not be the last celebrity couple in Dallas either. That is just the reality of being the face of the franchise in a market that pays attention to everything.
Flagg heads into his official rookie season with the weight of an entire fan base on his shoulders. The Mavericks made a franchise-changing bet on him. If courtside eye-rolls become the biggest off-court headline of his year, everyone in Dallas should consider that a huge win.
For now, the internet gets to enjoy one of the best young players in basketball being reminded that even future MVPs get playfully annoyed by their girlfriends. That is very normal, and very funny, and completely on-brand for how big Flagg is about to be.
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.
