On Monday, the NBA had their Draft Lottery, which figures out the order that teams will draft. Picks 1-4 are determined by the lottery and then picks 5-14 are determined by record once the top four teams have been figured out. As you can see from the graphic above, the Dallas Mavericks won the top pick despite having 1.8% odds of doing so. The Spurs, 76ers, Hornets, Jazz, Wizards, Pelicans, Nets, Raptors, Rockets, Trail Blazers, Bulls, Hawks, and Spurs follow in that order.
Of course, the Utah Jazz are the big losers in this given they came in with the league’s worst record and had 14% odds of winning the top pick. Their strategy of tanking to get the top pick hasn’t been going so good, but hey, getting the 5th overall pick still isn’t a bad place to be picking all things considered.
Going back to the Mavericks, by securing the top pick, this means they are now in the driver’s seat to select Duke phenom Cooper Flagg, who is has been the consensus top pick in the draft for quite a while. Flagg had a fabulous freshman season in Durham, averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game on 48.1% shooting from the field, 38.5% shooting from 3-point range, and 84.0% shooting from the foul line. Duke reached the Final Four, losing to Houston 70-67 in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament. Flagg was obviously a major reason why they went so deep.
Assuming they do indeed select Flagg, the Mavericks will be getting a new super star talent to replace Luka Doncic, who they traded to the Lakers for Anthony Davis earlier this season. Given his skills and gifts at 6’9″, 205 pounds, Flagg certainly has the potential to make Mavericks fans forget about Doncic rather quickly.
Still, there will be a lot of pressure on Flagg to deliver the goods and be the new face of the franchise. While that pressure would be there no matter where he goes, he’ll be under an even bigger magnifying glass in Dallas given the recent Doncic trade. He’ll immediately get compared to Doncic and given how good Doncic is, those aren’t easy shoes to fill.
It certainly will be interesting to see how Flagg does in Dallas (assuming he goes there) and where the Mavericks are five years out. One thing is certainly true: By winning the lottery, the Mavericks have an opportunity to look really smart for trading Doncic even though everybody has to know they had no crystal ball.
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