Mavs draft has already been flagged

By David Mullen

Just as the 2024-25 NBA Finals are ending, the 2025-26 NBA season is beginning. Once a league whose playoff games were not televised live because of lack of interest, today’s NBA now runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and receives global attention. 

The NBA is a pro sports convenience store: it’s always open and has a limited number of very expensive products.

There will be no more NBA game broadcasts relegated to a secondary corner on a TV screen, like when a White Bronco drove down the 405 Freeway through greater Los Angeles in 2004. The Houston Rockets and New York Knicks — whose NBA Finals broadcast played second fiddle on TV screens to the O.J. Simpson chase — and the other 28 NBA teams now enjoy the unencumbered entertainment and media spotlight.

The 2025 NBA Draft is Wednesday, June 25 and Thursday, June 26. The two-day, made-for-TV event, televised on ABC and ESPN, will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. A number of high school, college and foreign basketball players will be waiting impatiently to hear their name called. Picks two through 60 are still unknown. The No. 1 overall pick has already been flagged.  

In case you have been hibernating since February 2, the Dallas Mavericks, led by GM Nico Harrison, traded their beloved franchise player Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. The move led to a fan revolt never seen before in Dallas sports. For good measure, the Mavs raised ticket prices an average of more than 8.5 percent.

The franchise seemed to hit bottom and there have been a lot of bottoms. Then the Mavs hit the lottery, literally. With a 1.8 percent chance of scoring the top pick in the NBA Draft, the Mavericks stunned professional basketball by winning the NBA Draft lottery. 

Coming into the 2025 draft, the best player in the country is Duke forward Cooper Flagg. He is considered one of the top prospects in the last six years. With the No. 1 pick, Dallas will draft Flagg and hope he takes the sting off of the bitter Doncic trade. 

In one year at Duke, Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists and led the Blue Devils to a Final Four appearance. He has great basketball awareness and excellent shooting skills. One CBS Sports draft expert wrote, “High ceiling. High floor. It’s hard to imagine Flagg not being a high-level NBA player for more than a decade.” 

Flagg’s popularity at Duke snowballed to where he became must-see TV. Duke games are always televised and every college basketball fan wanted to watch Flagg. He was a perennial ESPN “SportsCenter” Top 10 highlight. The NBA and the Mavericks are banking that Flagg’s marketability will only increase.

Even though he was not yet drafted, on June 17, Flagg came to Dallas for a private visit with the Mavericks. Dallas is the only club Flagg will visit and Flagg is the only player Dallas will interview.

Flagg toured the American Airlines Center, the team’s practice facility, participated in a light workout and had dinner with Harrison and other members of the team brass. According to reports, Flagg also met with a group of players to learn more about the team’s culture. 

Before heading to Brooklyn, I hope that the 6-foot 9, 225-pound Flagg gets to see more of Dallas than the inside of an arena. I hope he gets to eat some Texas barbeque and Tex Mex, visit the Dallas Arboretum and get his exercise speed walking the levels of NorthPark Center. Weighing only 225 pounds, he will need to bulk up to do battle with NBA power forwards. 

A pint of Blue Bell ice cream during his visit will help jumpstart his bodybuilding program.

Flagg was born in Maine. No lobster rolls. Dallas’ famous margaritas are out, as Flagg is 18 years old and under the legal drinking age. But he might enjoy seeing Deep Ellum (he is 18), the Arts District and Klyde Warren Park on his business visit. And one is never too young or too old for a day at Six Flags over Texas, if he is not too tall for the rides. 

Once signed, it will be up to Harrison and head coach Jason Kidd to build the best team around Flagg while using the players he has under contract. All-Star Anthony Davis is 32, 14 years Flagg’s senior. AD could mentor Flagg. All-Star Kyrie Irving is out for most of next season rehabilitating a major knee injury. Flagg will miss his effectiveness at guard.  

With the addition of Flagg, and if the roster can stay healthy until Irving returns, the 2025-26 Mavericks have a solid chance of competing in the highly competitive Western Conference. On paper, the team looks great, as long as the paper isn’t the injury report.  

In mid-June, Flagg visited Dallas to see his new home. With the first week of training camp in late September, Flagg will have to see how he fits in with NBA veterans — some like Davis and Irving considered superstars — and the wear and tear of an 82-game regular season. Then he will know if Dallas is really home.