While the Dallas Mavericks continue to watch the NBA Playoffs from afar after their season fell into a downward spiral post-Luka Doncic trade, the franchise was injected with a new sense of life when they won the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery and the right to select consensus No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg.
Inserting Flagg into Dallas' lineup immediately adds to an already stacked frontcourt, so while Dallas' roster is far from complete and the addition of Flagg will almost certainly push a member of their frontcourt out in a trade this offseason, this is a good problem to have and is a blessing Dallas couldn't even fathom just a little over a week ago.
Fans will be sad to potentially see one or both of P.J. Washington or Daniel Gafford gone in a trade before next season starts, but Dallas can now add more prominent guard depth while barely sacrificing any of their frontcourt prowess, given the addition of Flagg. Flagg isn't the full face of Dallas' franchise quite yet with Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving still around, but the organization will undoubtedly take him into consideration when deciding how to best optimize their roster, as he'll hopefully be Dallas' franchise centerpiece for years to come.
Flagg's worst-case scenario is better than most players' best
The Mavericks will be building around Flagg for over a decade-plus if things pan out, and they couldn't of stumbled into a prospect with better intangibles in terms of both his mentality, physical attributes, and ferocity that he plays with on both ends of the court, being that he's only 18 years old. Per acclaimed ESPN draft analyst Jonathan Givony, scouts' only question with Flagg is if he borders out as a mere All-Star or reaches the tantalizing superstar potential that he teases.
There's no such thing as a safe draft pick in any sport, as fans and spectators never know what could happen to a player during his career, but it's without a doubt that Givony and other scouts' analyses in this situation regarding Flagg's potential and his floor is 100 percent correct. Flagg plays with tenacity on both sides of the ball and has an NBA-ready body, so there's only so much that can go wrong for him as far as his NBA career is concerned.
Even though Flagg doesn't project as a primary shot creator right out the gate, he shot extremely efficiently at his lone season at Duke University in arguably the toughest conference in college basketball, and he has the type of mentality where it seems set in stone that he'll evolve into a go-getter when the game is on the line at the NBA level eventually.
However rough his transition to the NBA from an offensive perspective is, Flagg projects to be a lockdown defender at all three levels, and he's proven he can compete and do well against NBA All-Stars at Team USA practice last summer. There's simply no world where Flagg doesn't become an NBA All-Star at his current trajectory, even if it takes him a few seasons to get there.
It would be unfortunate to see Flagg pan out at a borderline All-Star level player or something of the sort, but that's a great floor for scouts to give Flagg, even if he's the consensus first overall pick. Conversely, Flagg's ceiling is through the roof, as he has all the makings of a prime Kawhi Leonard if he can continue to develop his already budding playmaking and shot creation skills.
Mavericks fans have one of the best and most mature No. 1 selections in NBA history heading to their city this June, as Flagg has one of the highest floors and ceilings of any prospect in the modern era, and the Mavericks will certainly take the blessing of being able to select him after how perilous the last few months have been for the organization.
