The Mavericks recently completed what CEO Rick Welts summed up as a “tumultuous” season. Dallas is now celebrating its unlikely lottery luck, moving up from No. 11 to the top pick.
“Just looking at that potential roster and thinking about what could happen next season, it’s a reversal of fortunes that’s really unimaginable,” Welts said, per Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link).
Dropping Cooper Flagg into a Mavericks lineup that includes Anthony Davis and, when he recovers from his knee injury, Kyrie Irving, gives the franchise real hope of a championship in the coming seasons. All this after the firestorm created by the controversial Luka Doncic trade with the Lakers.
“I am so happy for Mavericks fans,” Welts said, per ESPN’s Michael C. Wright and Jonathan Givony. “I only got to Dallas Jan. 1 this year. Feb. 1, we broke the internet [with the Doncic trade]. I am just amazed at the depth of emotion and connection that the fan base has with this team. And what happened today, I can’t imagine a better day for Mavs fans. It’s going to really be something special. I can’t wait to get back to Dallas.”
Welts all but declared Flagg to be the team’s choice next month.
“I don’t know who we’re going to take, but should we take him, I think his résumé is pretty strong,” Welts said of the Duke star forward. “Every time he’s put in a situation that everyone wondered if he could succeed, he’s succeeded and then some.”
The Mavs’ head coach is eager to see what the team looks like with a star like Flagg added to the mix.
“Incredible day for the Mavericks,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd told Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link). “We are all so excited.”
Flagg didn’t talk specifically about joining the Mavs but he indicated he’d fit right in with a team that has put a premium on two-way players. Doncic’s defensive issues was one of the reasons general manager Nico Harrison was willing to deal him.
“Being a two-way player is something I’ve done since I was a little kid, so I’m just going to keep doing that to the best of my ability,” he said, per Grant Afseth of the Dallas Hoops Journal.
Welts, who worked for the league from 1982-1999, knows all about conspiracy theories involving the lottery. He heard quite a bit about that during the 1985 lottery, won by the Knicks.
“I’m the only person who was in this room and the room 40 years ago. I was in charge of the NBA draft lottery 40 years ago when Patrick Ewing won,” Welts said. “I’ve been doing conspiracy theory stories ever since. This is very surreal, personally.”
Nico is going to break Mavs fans again by taking Ace Bailey 1st instead because of measurables. Taller, longer, and we all know what “defense” is code for.
Actually, no. He isn’t.
Sarcasm.
True that, he takes edgecombe !
He’ll outfox us, somehow
What is it code for? I honestly don’t know. Also Luka is highly over rated. If he’s that good they get out the first round
It’s code for men who can jump.
Couldnt be less deserving…
Wow, what a great reward for blowing up the Luka/Brunson backcourt. Really cool how we reward people for tanking now. Mavs had an all-time great backcourt and blew it up for no reason at all, and then get Flagg because of it? Cool. Awesome. Nice.
The Draft Lottery is fixed. This is the biggest conspiracy to hit Dallas, since Oswald shot JFK. If you think Oswald was the lone gunman, then you believe the lottery was legitimate. The NBA once again orchestrated were they want top player to go.
What city did Oswald and company do their thing?
Is this the “make good” for that, or the Luka trade?
Or both??
Spurs getting the #2 pick might be the most impactful thing that happens tonight in the league, even more than Tatum’s injury or Dallas getting Coop. Dylan Harper gets compared to his dad a lot & to Brunson a lot but he’s more like a lefty version of Cade Cunningham, just an inch or 2 shorter.
But where would he fit with Castle and Fox there? 3 guard lineup?
For me I’d look to trade Castle (& other assets) for an elite wing like Booker, JBrown, etc. I’d try to bring back CPaul & ride with Fox/Harper/Paul as my pgs. Dylan would get as much pt as he earns.
Spurs aren’t moving Castle. Fox is the one to go with an expiring contract coming up and the injury recovery.
Harper, Castle, Vassell, Wemby, and whoever else with Paul, Johnson, and Sochan off the bench.
Castle’s ceiling is Bruce Brown and there’s nothing wrong with that but right now he’s just another high energy dude. He doesn’t have a jumper and he’s a decent but not great playmaker or shot creator. He’s not at the level of Fox is or what Harper could be.
I don’t think San Antonio trades anybody. They start Fox, Harper, Vassell, Sochan and Wembanyama. There’s some overlap between Fox and Harper but I don’t think you can ever have too much playmaking. Castle makes for a good 6th man that can guard 1-3 and give instant though inefficient offense. Keep CP3 to mentor Harper. Keldon Johnson, Mamukelashvili and Barnes round out the bench.
I agree with you padam. I would even move Vassell as the super sixth man.
Trade Johnson, Sochan and Fox for a elite young wing SF and a young PF/C
Brandon Miller would be nice on this team, maybe Saloun too with other contracts
Harper, Castle, ? , ? , Wemby
With the other 1st look at PFs
#2 will be part of a Giannis trade
Yeah but he damn sure ain’t a sure thing. A comparison is nothing.
He’s more of a sure thing than Fox or Castle were. He’s more of a sure thing than any guard that’s come into the league since Cade tbh.
Hope thats true. But have not seen that scoring yet. But you are right he is in the right place. He can take his time behind Fox…..
He was 1 of the best scoring guards in the country this season. He put 30 on Bama, had a big game vs Illinois & numerous other teams. Scoring is what he does best.
Yeah … its just the few games I saw. I didn’t see the scoring. And his splits are not really there yet. I like him. Just think he still needs time
“ Dylan Harper’s shooting splits for the 2024-25 NCAA season are 48.4% from the field, 33.3% from three-point range, and 75.0% from the free throw line, according to Sports-Reference.com. He averaged 19.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. ”
Points are solid. He has the handle and vision. Just saying not Cade yet.
Either Harper or Bailey for San Antonio
Have you ever heard someone say that sliced, processed cheese is one molecule away from being plastic? Well, I feel like the NBA is one molecule away from being the WWE.
Yeah turn the channel please …… stop watching
I think every nba team needs to have their fair share on getting the number one pick. Coz at this point it doesnt matter anymore. You have 1.8 percent chance… you can still get the number one pick. That way, nobody will tank anymore.
Just don’t say that to the Jazz. 1979 80 traded pick. Maybe forced. Their only one
It worked out for bulls back in 08 with D Rose. They weren’t good. But if you’re a hornets fan, wiz, jazz, nets you gotta feel some type of way…
But then you get teams like the bulls or the kings from this past year who are decent enough to get into the play in and win a game but not good enough to go far. They will tank the play in games to get an equal shot at the top pick
That would make the league so much worse with at least 10 teams purposely trying to lose every game and pray to win the lottery for the entire season just like Dallas did for the 2nd half of this season after the Luka trade.
Kyrie Klay Cooper AD Lively
Nows time to listen to offers on PJ.
Go get a guy like Malik Monk straight swaps.
If not him, Jordan Clarkson/Colin Sexton or a Anfernee Simons type
And off the bench you’ve got three starting calibre pliers Monk Naji and Gafford which cover guard forward and big. That’s the top 8 of the rotation set and then fill out with vets, plug and play guys and young guys you want to develop.
You don’t like PJ as sixth man. He is kind of expensive . Plus Kyrie won’t be back till end of season, playoffs. Still can’t believe they got Cooper.
Exactly even more reason to add a guard
Well done Nico. Trading Burger King Luka and tanking your team so they can be good in two years when Kyrie is back.
Jazz got played
Trade the star and you get rewarded…
LeBron to Cleveland. Kyrie and 2 more first overall picks to Cleveland after LeBron leaves. Colangelo forced on the Sixers to destroy the tank and trade with Boston to take Fultz so that Boston can take Tatum. Zion to the Pelicans to replace AD. Now Flagg to make up for trading Luka. So when the Bucks trade Giannis will they get the number one overall pick?
Jazz are being punished because of Rudy Gobert and Covid. Never allowed the top pick.
Take 32 and fragile, add in 33 and fragile, stir some Doncic for Davis mentality and what do you have?
Well with Lively, AD , and Cooper. This could be best front line in NBA. Who’s going to play the point till Kyrie comes back. Can they sign Brogdon as a injury exception. They have to find a PG to hold it riwn till Kyrie is ready. Their G-league guyWilliams I think. Not sure he is ready. Good as a backup.
One thing getting Cooper does. The Mavs are all about basketball again. Nico is yesterday’s news. Cooper is the next one. Imagine a team getting AD and Cooper Flagg in one year. Talk about hitting the lottery.
AD will get hurt again sometime next season like he always does. He already got hurt his whole career and now he’s gonna stay healthy all of a sudden in his early/mid 30’s?
@KnickAl
Brandon Williams played very well for them (good shooter, not a great passer) – they might decide to start him. But Dante Exum would probably be the starting PG
I just watched it on youtube and I have to say as a person with multiple degrees, that is the most convoluted process I may have ever seen. Would anyone care to explain it in simple terms?
What I saw was 14 numbered ping pong balls, several chosen, then a person off stage shouting who got the 1st , 2nd picks, etc. Wut??
When you’re picking four ping pong balls numbered 1 through 14, there are 1,001 possible combinations. The NBA throws out one of those combinations (I believe 11-12-13-14) and assigns the other 1,000 combinations to lottery teams. The top three teams get 140 each, the next team gets 125, then 105, etc. all the way down to the No. 14 team getting just five combinations.
The combinations are essentially just assigned in order. So the Jazz last night had 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-5, and so on, up to 140 different combinations.
That means that when lower numbers are drawn, it opens up the door for teams lower in the lottery to win (hence the Mavericks winning on a draw of 7-10-11-14).
What a hokey system! Who decides what 4 number combo gets assigned to each team?
The whole lottery should be re-thought… not to encourage tanking, but to prevent play-in teams from winning the lottery and the top pick(s).
Just limit the lottery to the bottom 8 teams. That will preserve some integrity to ensure that a bad team will get the best draft-eligible players.
I wouldn’t be against some sort of compensation for the 9-14 teams (for not tanking) in an effort to discourage tanking… maybe in the form of some kind of cap relief or extra exception.
But something has to be done to get the 39 win teams out of winning the lottery.