Cooper Flagg sprains an ankle and is ruled out after halftime as Mavs lose to Nuggets

DALLAS (AP) — Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg was ruled out for the second half of a 118-109 loss to Denver on Wednesday night after the No. 1 pick sprained his left ankle in the first half Wednesday night.

Flagg was called for a foul while defending against Peyton Watson, and turned the ankle as he fell to the floor with 6:01 left in the second quarter. Flagg limped to the bench and continued to the locker room, but returned for the final 2:35 before the break.

The 19-year-old didn't come of the locker room for the second half before the announcement that he was out for the game. Flagg injured the same ankle two nights earlier, leaving briefly to get it taped before returning and leading Dallas with 27 points in a 113-105 victory over Brooklyn.

“He stepped on someone’s foot,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Last game, he twisted his ankle, too. We decided to hold him (out) for the second half.”

Kidd said he didn't know if Flagg, who wasn't available to reporters after the game, or center Daniel Gafford would play the second game of a back-to-back against Utah on Thursday night. Gafford was ruled out during the second half against Denver with a right ankle sprain that has bothered him most of the season.

Flagg was playing his 40th game, three more than his only season as a Duke standout when he led the Blue Devils to the Final Four as The Associated Press men's player of the year.

Flagg missed just one game in the first 41 of the Mavericks, due to an illness in November. The Rookie of the Year contender is averaging 18.8 points and 6.3 rebounds.

Before Gafford exited, the Mavericks were already without their top two frontcourt players in 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis and young center Dereck Lively II. Davis is expected to be sidelined about six weeks with ligament damage in his left hand, and Lively is out for the season following foot surgery.

“This is a hard time for us,” Kidd said. “We have had a lot of injuries. … We have been hurt since day one of training camp. This is the norm. The character has been displayed in tough times of being down. But we keep fighting.”

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Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg walks on the court after briefly leaving to the locker room during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) shoots a basket against Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg leaves the court and heads to the locker room during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, right, goes up for a basket against Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States intensified its strikes on Iran early Thursday, hitting targets further north as American forces also fired into a ship the U.S. accused of trying to break its naval blockade on the Islamic Republic. Iran retaliated with missile and drone fire targeting U.S. allies in the region before dawn and warned its attacks may escalate.

Days of back-and-forth strikes by the U.S. and Iran across the Middle East — and renewed threats to the Strait of Hormuz — have shredded the interim deal to end the Iran war and could tip the region back into all-out war. Already, Iranian officials say U.S. strikes have killed more than 35 people and wounded over 300 others.

Strikes also reached into areas around Iran’s capital, Tehran, for the first time in this latest round of violence, showing a widening set of targets for the Americans.

When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic, a move that sent the price of oil, fertilizer and many other goods soaring far beyond the region and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations.

Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesperson for the Iranian military’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, threatened that Iran could launch widespread attacks on regional infrastructure if the U.S. acts on President Donald Trump's repeated warnings that America could hit Iranian bridges and power plants.

“All the infrastructure in the region will be crushed under the steel blows of the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran” should Trump’s threat be carried out, Zolfaghari said.

“Under no circumstances and in no way will we allow America, as a foreign and extra-regional country, to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz,” he added. “This is Iran’s invincible red line.”

The U.S. strikes early Thursday hit around Tehran, state media reported. It also reported that American attacks targeted Semnan province, home to Iran’s ballistic missile production and space program.

Iranian media also reported strikes Thursday morning around the provinces of Hamedan, Hormozgan, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Markazi, and Sistan and Baluchistan.

On Wednesday, the U.S. resumed striking Iran during daylight, further showing the increasing tempo of the attacks. An attack on Greater Tunb Island, a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz, targeted Iranian defense and missile sites, Central Command said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it opened fire on the Curacao-flagged oil tanker Belma sailing toward Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal in the Persian Gulf. After the ship “ignored multiple warnings,” a U.S. aircraft disabled the merchant vessel by firing a missile into the ship’s smokestack.

Another American strike Wednesday targeted a barracks for Iran’s 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which operates tanks and armored vehicles, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state television reported. The report said Americans fired at least 13 missiles in the attack and the seven dead included conscripts and career soldiers. A number of troops were wounded.

Iran retaliated Thursday with missile and drone attacks on Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, authorities in those countries home to U.S. forces said. There was no immediate acknowledgment of damage or casualties from the attacks.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi condemned an overnight drone attack on the city of Irbil in Iraq’s semiautonomous northern Kurdish region. The drone, which authorities said had been intercepted, came during his trip to the U.S. in which he said Iraq would work to disarm non-state armed groups, including those backed by Iran.

The latest round of fighting is focused on the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran attacks ships using a U.S.-controlled route through the vital waterway.

The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force, but experts say that would require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of ground troops.

The price for Brent crude oil, the international standard, traded above $85 a barrel on Thursday, more than 15% higher than the price before the war, but still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the conflict.

Rising prices pose a particular challenge to Trump and his Republican Party, which hopes to retain control of Congress in elections in November. But Washington has struggled to successfully reopen the waterway, leading to Trump reimposing the naval blockade Wednesday.

Trump again insisted Iran was ready to strike a peace deal, but he did not elaborate.

“They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle. We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,” he said Wednesday at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania.

Mediators have sought to calm the tensions, but so far have been unsuccessful. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday said it was still trying to bring the U.S. and Tehran to the table, while acknowledging that mediation was becoming increasingly difficult.

“Whenever the parties exhaust the logic of escalation, the formula for peace is there,” ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told a news conference.

Trump separately said on social media that Tehran made a goodwill gesture by releasing an American citizen wrongly detained in Iran since 2024. He didn’t release further details. Human rights lawyer Jared Genser released a statement identifying the detainee as his client Dena Karari, a U.S.-Iranian citizen who runs a nonprofit and was charged with espionage.

Iran did not immediately acknowledge the release and her case was not publicly known, as is sometimes the case with detentions in the Islamic Republic.

A billboard depicting U.S. President Donald Trump lying on what appears to be a coffin and bearing anti-Trump messages, including the phrase "We Kill Trump," is seen at Islamic Revolution Square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Three boys play in the shallow waters of the Strait of Hormuz, as a plume of smoke rises from an explosion in the background, off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Razieh Poudat/ISNA via AP)