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Recently, the Dallas Mavericks shook up the NBA world by winning the NBA Draft lottery despite entering the night with just a 1.8% chance to do so. It was the first piece of good news in several months for a Mavericks fanbase that saw their team trade away franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic and subsequently miss the playoffs.
The Mavericks are widely expected to take Duke standout Cooper Flagg with the number one overall pick (although nothing should be put past Nico Harrison). Recently, NBA insider Stephen A. Smith took to ESPN's First Take to relay his thoughts on why Flagg could be a good selection for Dallas.
“When you got somebody with that kind of potential and they're white and you are in America, you keep that dude… in Dallas, Texas, if you got an opportunity to get Cooper Flagg, you take [him],” said Smith.
It's unclear exactly what Smith meant with his comments, but it may be worth noting that the Mavericks' last two franchise cornerstones–Doncic and Dirk Nowitzki–were also white.
A big night for the Mavericks
The Mavericks have had perhaps the biggest roller coaster of emotions over the last three months that any NBA fanbase has ever experienced.
Dallas was the laughing stock of the league after trading away Doncic in early February, turning Nico Harrison essentially into a supervillain in the Dallas community.
However, the team was rewarded for its incompetence with the opportunity to draft Flagg, who has bee regarded as one of the best draft prospects this century.
The combination of Flagg, Anthony Davis, and Kyrie Irving is certainly an interesting one, although it remains to be seen how much of 2025-26 Irving will miss with his recent ACL injury.
Still, there's no doubt that the Mavericks are in a better position now than at any point in the last few months, and now their fans will be praying that Harrison doesn't do the unthinkable and once again subvert everyone's expectations.
The NBA Draft is slated for late June.
