The Dallas Mavericks defied all odds on NBA Draft Lottery night. With just over a one percent chance, they still managed to land the first overall pick. The most exciting college prospect this season is undoubtedly Duke’s Cooper Flagg, who played his freshman year at Duke despite being only a high school senior by age.
With just under two weeks until the draft, Flagg has begun receiving some surprisingly critical evaluations, despite being one of the most hyped prospects in recent memory.
“I don’t see him as a dominating player. I think he will be the second-best player on a good team or third-best player on a great team. Nothing I saw made me think he is going to be unstoppable,” Chuck Klosterman wrote.
The Mavericks seem confident in Flagg, but there are lingering uncertainties—particularly surrounding head coach Jason Kidd, who has drawn interest from the New York Knicks.
“But with the Kidd rumors spiraling over the last few days, this nearly set up an unprecedented time for an 18-year-old Flagg at a time when he doesn't need any distractions. He's set on joining the Mavericks without any unknowns, but with the front office and their recent history, we can't be too sure,” The Smoking Cuban’s Jared A’Latorre wrote.
Dallas has only scheduled workouts with Flagg, which is telling in itself. But if that wasn’t enough, the Mavericks went a step further and featured Flagg on their website.
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“DLLS Mavericks reporter Kevin Gray posted on X a screenshot from Mavs' official website that displayed Flagg in Dallas' white home jersey – part of a premature ‘Welcome to Dallas’ graphic that was quickly removed from the team's site,” Yahoo Sports’ Jeremy Beren wrote.
It’s an unusually bold move from the Mavericks, especially with more than a week remaining before the draft. While it seems inevitable that Dallas will select Flagg, posting him on the official team site before it’s official is rarely the professional route teams take.