Do Dallas Mavericks fan even want to win the lottery? I mean, yes. Yes, they probably do, but I mean… after this season? With this GM? With these owners?
I feel like there is a happiness cap here (a cappiness) that restricts just how excited a Mavs fan can be right now. Usually number-one-pick -evel happiness when there’s a guy like Cooper Flagg on the board is like “WOOOOOO!!” I’m not sure it’s possible to reach that point as a Mavs fan currently. It’s going to be more of a “Sigh… No, no. I’m fine. Reall! It’s great we got the number one pick. It’s just been a year, you know? But yeah. Trust me, I’m happy.”
Unfortunately, I’m not sure Nico is sold on his defense, and as we’ve all been reminded defense wins cha-
And he is very clearly not planning past a very near deadline, so why would he want a rookie.
Anyways, I’m getting way off track here.
If the Mavericks win the lottery certain people will not react well
As Marc Stein reported here …
… the lottery is important to a lot of teams in hopes of turning their fate around. The Mavericks have a 1.8 chance at the top pick, according to Tankathon.
But what if the NBA cheats? What if the NBA thinks everything happening in Dallas is good and should be rewarded? What if in 2025 the NBA embraces pro wrestling and decides to script everything? Oh no!
I don’t think that will happen, but, as with all things that happen, someone will assume foul play based upon nothing other than they probably think there's foul play everywhere. And there is! A lot of it! Just not in the ways you’re paying attention to.
In all likelihood, the NBA as a whole probably sees an angry fan base, managerial missteps, alienating a Hall of Famer in Dirk Nowitzki, and all the rest of the fallout of the Luka trade as a bad thing. There’s always the conspiracy about how the league tries to help the Lakers, and sure maybe the league is happy about that, but that seems like a weird reason to give the Mavs Cooper Flagg. Again, you’d have to trust Nico. Why would you do that?
Anyway, I’m just hoping to get out ahead of this mindset, so people don’t find themselves traveling down this road if that 1.8 chance comes through. It’s unlikely, but unlikely things do happen.