While Carmelo Anthony didn’t hesitate to celebrate Cooper Flagg’s Rookie of the Year triumph, his most telling remarks were aimed elsewhere, toward the dismissed Dallas Mavericks executive whose bold vision helped make the moment possible. That perspective carries extra weight considering Anthony’s own history with the award. Carmelo Anthony was once involved in a heated ROTY race and finished second to close friend LeBron James. Having experienced that level of competition firsthand, he understands what it takes to stand out in a crowded rookie class.

The Knicks legend knows the sacrifice and was quick to appreciate the current ROTY winner, Cooper Flagg. The Dallas Mavericks rookie earned 56 first-place votes and totaled 412 points, stressing just how dominant his campaign was from start to finish. Yet beyond the numbers and accolades, Anthony made it clear that Flagg’s success didn’t happen in isolation. But there is someone else who deserves to get the special shout-out from Melo.

“Shout out to Nico Harrison for seeing this right here, began Anthony on NBC’s NBA Showtime. For understanding his vision. Whatever happened or how it happened, Dallas got something back. They got the #1 pick. They got a rookie who led the squad in PTS, REB, AST, and STL. MJ is the only person to ever do that, so when you talk about Cooper’s ceiling as a young face of the league in the NBA. It’s Cooper Flagg.”

It was a 26-point gap between Coop and Charlotte Hornets’ Kon Knueppel, the second-smallest between the top-two finishers since the current voting format began in 2002-03, behind only a 15-point gap in 2021-22, when Scottie Barnes edged Evan Mobley for the award. Flagg had an immediate positive impact on the franchise, and Carmelo Anthony stated that then-GM Nico Harrison decided to draft the Maine native. But the process of acquiring the #1 draft pick still hurts the Mavs fanbase.

He orchestrated the infamous Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade, suggesting a defense-wins-championships mindset. But the Mavericks went 13-20 after the February 2 deadline, following injuries to AD and Kyrie Irving, plummeted to 10th in the West, and were eliminated in the Play-In Tournament.

Becoming the first reigning Finals team since 2020 to miss the playoffs entirely. Still, the pain of the cornerstone in Doncic hurt the fanbase. The Mavs entered the draft lottery with only a 1.8% chance of winning. Somehow, under Nico Harrison’s management, the team defied the odds to draft the #1 player.

Then there were reports of the then-GM trading Cooper Flagg for a win-now approach. But that never materialized as Flagg successfully completed his first year in Dallas and became the second-youngest winner (19 years, 112 days as of April 12, the final day of the regular season), behind only LeBron James (19 years, 106 days in 2003-04).

As Carmelo Anthony pointed out, Flagg joined Michael Jordan as the only rookies to lead their team in four stats. But in the middle of the season, as Coop was finding his feet, Nico Harrison was shown the exit door.

The former GM explained Cooper Flagg’s significance for his bold plans

Fire Nico chants were obvious and loud inside the American Airlines Center. But since they drafted a superstar with as much potential as Flagg, it somehow eased the fans’ displeasure.

In June last year, Harrison admitted, “We’re in ‘win now’ mode, and we have a really good team, and Cooper adds to that. I think the fans can finally start to see the vision.” Unfortunately, that vision never came true.

After a 3-8 start marred by injuries and inconsistent play, the Mavericks owner decided to pull the plug on Harrison’s ideas. In February, they traded Davis, who had come to Dallas just a year ago, signaling the end of the process Nico had been building. They completely gave the keys to Cooper Flagg during his rookie tenure.

It was a roller coaster journey for him, too. The Duke alum is expected to be surrounded by veterans like AD and Irving. But injuries to them limited that possibility. Since then, he has been trusted as the primary ball handler, a high-intensity role he had never truly embraced before the NBA. Head coach Jason Kidd insisted on this plan, and the results are for everyone to see. Coop led his team and won the ROTY.