This was Nico Harrison's plan all along, right? Trade Luka, be bad enough to sneak into the draft lottery, then win the right to draft another potentially generational superstar in Cooper Flagg. Right?
No, actually. I'm not giving Nico any credit here. You can't make me. But the Mavs did WIN THE NBA DRAFT LOTTERY, and I'm thrilled for a fan base that had the rug pulled out from under them worse than any fan base I've ever seen.
Of course, they will all now live with paranoia that Flagg could be traded at any moment... but we'll deal with that later on. For now... jubilation. Cooper Flagg will be in a Mavericks jersey in just over a month.
In terms of fit, Flagg to the Mavs is about as perfect as it gets. Planting him between Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis, with some solid role players around them, equals a pretty, pretty, pretty good team. I'm still not giving Nico Harrison any credit, because he literally just lucked into a superstar, but the Mavs should be pretty formidable as soon as Flagg takes the court and Irving returns from an ACL tear.
Mavericks win 2025 NBA Draft lottery with uder 2 percent chance
Every time Mark Tatum announced a team name that wasn't the Mavericks, my brow furrowed even further. Then there were no more picks to announce, and the Mavs were the only team left. Huh?
I actually can't believe that just happened. A 1.8 percent chance to win it all, and the Mavs did it. I'm equally thrilled for the fans and angry that something good happened to the upper brass of the Dallas Mavericks franchise. Okay, maybe a little happier for the fans. I try to live a life centered around love.
For the first time ever, we won the LOTTERY 💰#MFFL pic.twitter.com/gp1NlDbY6k
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) May 12, 2025