The Dallas Mavericks have won the NBA Draft Lottery and are almost guaranteed to pick the Cooper Flag.
For the first time in over three months, sports fans in Dallas have something to celebrate. After Nico Harrison traded franchise centerpiece Luka Doncic for the Los Angeles Lakers before the 2025 trade deadline, Mavs looked like a fierce franchise with no direction for the next few seasons.
However, during the NBA Draft Lottery, Dallas didn’t care about the 1.8% odds on the top pick and left with the rights of the top pick to please team president Roland Blackman.
Overall, Mavs, who never chose first, certainly chooses Cooper Flag, a generation of talent at Duke University.
Flag is one of the more complete outlooks the league has seen so far, and is the type of two-way player Nico Harrison has been promoting in the aftermath of the Doncic trade.
In his only season with Blue Devils, Flag averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steel, 1.4 blocks, 48.1% off the floor and 38.5% off the back of the arc.
He is the NCAA Player of the Year and is expected to be a transformative outlook at both ends of the court. He is expected to become one of the best players in the world in just a few years, and was invited to play with Team USA’s Select Team in preparation for the Olympics in Paris, facing straight with the members of the A-Team in America.
“Cooper Flag,” LeBron James said.
One thing is certain: Dallas is a flag city. Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson and the rest are all just sidekicks. Like Doncic, Flagg is the next franchise icon and is expected to lead Dallas basketball.
Even all the rookie Victor Wenbagnama has some pain when they start playing first, and Flagg is no exception.
Once Irving recovers from a torn ACL, Flag may be called to begin his career as a point forward.
Flag is expected to be ready to compete at the highest level soon, and while there may be some obstacles and hurdles in his way, the ideas of Davis, Thompson and Irving are enough for Mavericks fans to believe once again.
Having him and Wenbanyama in the same division should make the Southwest division a must-watch television for the next 20 years.