After making the most important leap in NBA draft lottery historical past to land the No. 1 total choose, the Dallas Mavericks plan to pick Duke ahead Cooper Flagg and won’t entertain the potential of buying and selling away the choose for a confirmed famous person, sources instructed ESPN.
The Mavs had solely a 1.8% likelihood of profitable the lottery after being eradicated within the Western Convention’s ultimate play-in sport to finish a tumultuous, injury-ravaged season.
The unlikely lottery victory occurred a couple of months after Dallas normal supervisor Nico Harrison shocked the NBA and outraged the Mavericks’ fan base by buying and selling five-time first-team All-NBA choice Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for a bundle headlined by 10-time All-Star energy ahead middle Anthony Davis.
Sources instructed ESPN that Patrick Dumont, who simply completed his first 12 months because the Mavs’ governor, considers the chance to be in place to draft a generational expertise similar to Flagg a “reward.” Whereas Dumont has given Harrison nice leeway to run basketball operations, the governor has ultimate choice on all personnel issues.
The aftermath of the Doncic commerce created important enterprise issues for the Mavs, in addition to muddying the long-term outlook for a franchise that gave up its first-round draft capital, both outright or by way of swap rights, from 2027 to 2030 whereas constructing the supporting solid of Dallas’ 2024 NBA Finals crew. The arrival of Flagg would mitigate each of these issues.
The 6-foot-9 Flagg has been thought-about the front-runner to be the highest choose within the draft since August 2023, when he introduced his choice to graduate highschool a 12 months early and enroll in a school as a 17-year-old.
Regardless of being one of the crucial closely anticipated freshmen to enter the faculty sport in a number of years, Flagg exceeded expectations by profitable practically each main nationwide participant of the 12 months award, averaging 19.2 factors, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists, and main the Blue Devils (35-4) to a Ultimate 4 look.
“I do not know who we’ll take, however ought to we take him, I believe his résumé is fairly sturdy,” Mavs CEO Rick Welts mentioned Tuesday. “Each time he is put in a state of affairs that everybody puzzled if he might succeed, he is succeeded after which some.”
ESPN’s Michael C. Wright and Jonathan Givony contributed to this report.
