Armed with just a 1.8% chance of winning the NBA Draft Lottery, the Dallas Mavericks walked away with the top overall selection on Monday night, clearing the path for them to pick Duke star Cooper Flagg.
This marks a highly unexpected end of the season for the Mavericks, who traded superstar Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 1. Now armed with the No. 1 overall pick and some stars in varying states of health on its roster, Dallas has some options — and some crucial decisions to make.
Cooper Flagg is an elite prospect, but the Mavs already have a star power forward. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images)
(Lance King via Getty Images)
Will the Mavericks hitch their wagon to Flagg?
With the Mavericks acquiring Anthony Davis in the Dončić trade, the team shortened its championship window significantly, meaning you now have to wonder if the organization is still on that path, or if it will pivot toward a rebuild.
The logical choice — selecting Flagg and initiating a rebuild — isn’t set in stone, especially after Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison has continuously voiced his belief in how close Dallas is to making a real run at a championship despite starting point guard Kyrie Irving’s ACL tear, which likely will leave him sidelined for most of next season.
If the organization insists upon remaining competitive, it’ll be difficult to justify keeping Flagg after pivoting off Dončić and arguing the trade got them closer to a championship.
At the very least, pairing an 18-year-old power forward with a former All-NBA big man who’s 32 will be an odd and suboptimal fit, with Davis making it well known he prefers playing power forward. Even if the Mavs give it some time, will a Year 2 or 3 Flagg have reached the level where he can feature as a key championship component?
And more importantly, will Davis and Irving still be impact contributors to boost Flagg’s rise?
The Giannis Antetokounmpo angle
Being able to dangle the allure and potential of Flagg to a team with an established star might be viewed as attractive for Harrison. Would he call up, say, the Milwaukee Bucks and offer them Flagg and contracts for Giannis Antetokounmpo?
The Bucks obviously would have to agree to any such deal, and while Antetokounmpo is finally opening up to the idea of playing elsewhere, no one knows what particulars Milwaukee is looking for in return. Perhaps the Bucks are aiming for a bigger return or a deal with more attached draft selections.
Time will tell what Dallas is thinking here, but this does at least give the Mavs an enormous amount of flexibility, of which they had very little before the lottery.
Should they use Flagg as the core of an official roster reset, it suddenly opens up trade scenarios involving Davis and Irving.
This means they could get younger and build a superb defense around Flagg and Dereck Lively, which is what Harrison believes is the recipe to winning a championship.
The fairness of it all
It’s worth noting how this lottery likely will be viewed as an unjust reward for Dallas.
The blowback for the Dončić trade was bad enough, but it was also a bad look in the following weeks and months, when the organization repeatedly threw its former superstar under the bus in the media.
The karma police are already in full force on social media, which given the circumstances might be fair.
For an organization that acted unprofessionally and immaturely, it’s a tough pill to swallow for NBA fans who felt the Mavericks deserved to wallow in misery for a while.
Instead they now have Flagg in hand if they want him, which only underlines how the lottery is a cruel mistress indeed.
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