Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II have been deemed safe from a trade this offseason as Duke Blue Devils basketball star Cooper Flagg prepares to join the Dallas Mavericks as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft.
D Magazine’s Jake Kemp declared the two safe while all but ruling Kyrie Irving out from playing during the 2025-26 season.
Kemp said those were the only sure things.
“The Mavericks enter the summer with a decidedly different set of circumstances than they or anyone else (besides Those Who Rigged the Lottery) expected them to. From a free agency standpoint, I’m not sure Flagg changes much, because this isn’t a team in a position to spend much. But as Josh Bowe began to delve into last week, the sorts of trades the Mavs might explore could be very different with Flagg in the fold. I think a lot about that opening night play I described, Flagg’s first. I know the ending,” Kemp prefaced before saying, “But the rest is murky, other than the fact we know Kyrie Irving won’t be on the floor, and if healthy, Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II will be. The next few months are about figuring out the rest, and really, the rest is, what’s the plan with Cooper Flagg?”
Flagg’s arrival has some discussing scenarios to clear out the Mavs’ frontcourt. One popular proposal is a swap that’d send Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington to the Boston Celtics for Jrue Holiday.
Lively and AD seem to have less to worry about than their frontcourt teammates.
Kemp has a potential solution to the frontcourt clutter in Dallas: play Flagg alongside Washington, Davis, and Lively/Gafford, should Nico Harrison decide to keep the roster largely intact.
“Make the jumbo package the regular. I love this lineup to start the season because I think it will take about five games to ask why Flagg isn’t the point guard,” Kemp wrote.
Flagg’s arrival may not rock the Mavs’ boat like many thought it would. Especially if Jason Kidd can get creative with the versatility he’s tabbed to have in his rotation.