Cooper Flagg’s Mom Clarifies Perceived Reaction to Nico Harrison Firing

Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg’s mom, Kelly Flagg, has cleared the air after she went viral for seemingly reacting to general manager Nico Harrison’s firing.

Kelly shared a post via X on Monday, November 10, in which a Mavericks fan complained about Cooper, 18, having to hear “fire Nico” chants while he is shooting free throws. The post called Harrison, 52, a distraction. The organization fired him the next day.

“Cooper Flagg’s mom has entered the chat 😳,” The Athletic’s NBA X account wrote on Tuesday. “Kelly Flagg reposted a fan tweet about Nico Harrison to her X account.”

“Retweet wasn’t about firing Nico,” Kelly replied in a quote-post. “It was about the fact that the fans were chanting during our free throws. Our guys had nothing to do with what went down.”

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She added, “It’s done now so we all need to move on. Hopefully better days ahead.”

Kelly has been one of her son’s most outspoken supporters since he debuted for Duke University in 2024. The one-and-done phenom went No. 1 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft to the Mavericks, where he is averaging 15 points per game through 11 games.

During Cooper’s time at Duke, Kelly made headlines when she called University of North Carolina fans “classless a**holes” in a lengthy Facebook rant after the Blue Devils defeated their arch-rivals on the road in March. She believed that Tar Heels fans were disrespectful to her and her family during the game and called her over-the-top celebration to a dunk from her son a “big F-you to the entire Carolina fan base.”

“I’ve learned that people shouldn’t mess with Mama Bear,” Kelly told Us Weekly exclusively the week after that game as the Blue Devils were preparing for the NCAA Tournament. “Mama Bear definitely can come out, even when I don’t want it to. Sometimes I can’t help it.”

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But as she explained, she takes her role seriously as her son’s biggest fan. That means making sure Cooper and his teammates are ready for each game.

“If a team is warming up and they’re just kind of going through the motions, a lot of times they come out flat to start the game,” she explained. “I feel like it is my personal responsibility to make sure that our parent section brings the energy. In fact, I think we coached them to that win against UNC by really getting the crowd going.”

“I’m just so passionate about these boys and what they’re doing,” she added. “I know how much they want it and I know how hard they’ve worked for it. I know the hours that have gone into it.”

Cooper isn’t the only member of the family to benefit from Kelly’s passion. He also has a fraternal twin brother, Ace, who is a freshman at the University of Maine, the Flaggs’ home state. (Cooper reclassified in high school to the class of 2024 to enter college a year early.)

Ace, 18, scored 10 points in his collegiate debut against George Washington on November 3.

“He’s done such a great job of being his own person, being authentically who he is as a player, and developing in his own time,” Kelly told the Bangor Daily News of Ace in March 2025.