After the Warriors beat the Mavericks 126-116 on Christmas, Steph Curry had some good things to say about Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg. It was Curry's fifth Christmas Day win and his 12th game playing on the holiday.

Curry said Flagg is a real player and a competitor, and it's easy to forget how young he is. He also said Flagg has a bright future. “I’m glad he got this experience his first year and understands what the bright lights feel like. The league is in good hands.”

Flagg topped all scorers with 27 points in his Christmas Day debut, hitting 13 of 21 shots. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists. He really stepped up on a big stage and is already getting props from other NBA superstars.

Curry didn't hold anything back, calling Flagg a true hooper”. Flagg started slow, with just two points in the first quarter, but then took off. He joined LeBron James as the only teens ever to score at least 25 points on Christmas.

The 19-year-old also made some history, becoming the first rookie since Pete Maravich in 1970 to put up at least 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists on Christmas Day. So far this season, Flagg is averaging 19.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in 31 games. He's the team's second-leading scorer and third-best rebounder, proving why he was the top pick in the 2025 draft.

In a game against the Denver Nuggets a couple of days before Christmas, Flagg almost had a triple-double with 33 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. He also nailed a season-high four three-pointers, which helped Dallas win 131-130.

Flagg plays with a lot of poise, is comfortable handling the ball, and makes good decisions on offense. Mavericks coach Jason Kidd talked about Flagg after the Warriors game.

Kidd stated Flagg was doing everything off the pick and roll; he was playing at a very high level for the team, and they needed that.

Curry knew about Flagg way back when he was in high school, where he was the number one recruit in the class of 2024. He was named Gatorade National Player of the Year.

Flagg attended Curry’s elite camp in 2023 and impressed many. The camp had other top high schoolers, and even Curry joined in on some scrimmages.

Flagg has been in the spotlight for a while now, and he keeps showing why he's so good.

Lakers coach JJ Redick was watching as LeBron James waited to get back into the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves during game two of the first round of the NBA playoffs at Crypto.com Arena.

Ex-NBA champ Kendrick Perkins thinks the seven-year thing between LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers is done.

Perkins figured this out after seeing how James, his old teammate, was acting during Thursday's Christmas Day loss to the Houston Rockets.

"LeBron James and the Lakers, it's over," Perkins said on ESPN's First Take on Friday. They need to work it out. And the fix is him not being in a Lakers uniform.

Perkins said that Rich Paul's recent words—James' agent said the Lakers aren't going to win a title—show that James isn't happy with the Lakers.

LeBron's been to the NBA Finals like 10-15 times. He knows when a team isn't good enough. Rich Paul, his agent, just said the Lakers aren't title contenders. If Rich Paul is saying it, they both feel that way.

Is LeBron James Not Happy?

James wasn't himself in Thursday's loss to the Rockets. A lot of experts pointed out that he missed some defensive plays, let his Rockets matchups push him around on rebounds, and wasn't fast enough guarding closeouts.

Fair or not, the 40-year-old got a lot of blame for his team getting beaten up inside by the Rockets, who scored 68 points in the paint and got more rebounds than the Lakers, 48-25, with 17 offensive rebounds. Those second chances led to 24 points.

Perkins thinks James looked like he'd given up.

Watching that game last night—and I played with LeBron James and grew up playing with him in AAU—I know this guy. When he's not into it, or if he's feeling some kind of way, it shows in how he acts, Perkins said about James.

And last night, he looked terrible. He wasn't into it. He was whining, sulking, walking around, and complaining.

Are LeBron and Redick Fighting?

Perkins also hinted that Lakers coach JJ Redick didn't look too happy during Thursday's loss, saying that Redick started blasting his players in news conferences after James came back from sciatica.

"He wasn't saying these things earlier in the season when LeBron James was out," Perkins said about Redick.

Some experts thought Redick was talking about James when he called out certain players in his postgame news conference.

It's about making the choice, and often we have guys who don't want to make that choice, Redick said about the Lakers' defensive struggles.

And it's pretty obvious who those guys are.

The coach, in his second year, also told his players that they were going to have a tough meeting on Saturday, where he plans to yell at them.

Saturday's practice—I told the guys—it's going to be tough, Redick said. The meeting is going to be tough. I'm not doing another 53 games like this.

James, who has a $52.6M contract that's about to end, can't be traded unless he says so. And even if the 4-time NBA champ finishes the season, there's a good chance he won't be a Laker next year, according to several insiders.