Cooper Flagg to LA for golf with Luka Doncic — the rumor that almost was
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Cooper Flagg to LA for golf with Luka Doncic — the rumor that almost was originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
NBA fans spent the weekend buzzing over a supposed meetup between two of the league's biggest names. A claim spread fast across social media, tying together a Los Angeles Lakers superstar and a Dallas Mavericks rookie sensation during a quiet stretch of August.
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The story gained traction before anyone could confirm a single detail behind it. By Sunday night, a veteran NBA reporter stepped in to set the record straight for good.
Marc Stein shuts down Luka Doncic and Cooper Flagg rumor for good
An account called MavsMuse posted over the weekend claiming Cooper Flagg would fly to Los Angeles to golf with Luka Doncic, and the idea spread across fan pages within hours. NBA insider Marc Stein addressed it directly, confirming there was no golf summit scheduled between the two.
Doncic has spent this summer fully rooted in Slovenia, a stretch that follows his three-year contract extension with the Lakers that runs through 2028. Stein made clear where each player actually stands. "Luka Dončić is in Slovenia and will be for the whole offseason," Stein wrote. "Cooper Flagg is training in Maine and occasionally Dallas all summer."
Flagg meanwhile, has stayed close to home in Maine, mixing training blocks with occasional trips to Dallas. He capped his rookie season with back-to-back Rookie of the Month honors, and that momentum carried straight into a summer full of unrelated speculation. Stein didn't hold back on the rumor itself, either.
"Not sure who actually believed this one," he wrote, "but for those asking, there's no golf summit scheduled tomorrow in LA."
Neither player has addressed the claim publicly, and nothing in either player's known schedule ever lined up with a trip west. The distance between Slovenia, Maine and Los Angeles made the story unlikely from the moment it appeared online.
Offseason chatter keeps swirling around NBA stars
Doncic and Flagg aren't the only ones fielding unverified offseason buzz this month. Similar chatter has followed Rich Paul's comments on LeBron James' future in Philadelphia and the ongoing situation surrounding Kawhi Leonard's arrangement with the Clippers, both stories that picked up steam before any official confirmation followed.
The pattern shows up every August when actual NBA news slows and speculation fills the gap.Flagg's own summer already produced one unverified claim about his height, a story that also traced back to social media rather than any team or league source.
Training camps open in a matter of weeks, and both players will soon be back in front of cameras on a daily basis. Until then, unconfirmed claims like this one figure to keep making the rounds.
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