The Dallas Mavericks luckily won the lottery and the right to draft Cooper Flagg, but the franchise is making things difficult on him immediately by thrusting him into a lead ball-handling role on a franchise with title contention dreams. They signed D’Angelo Russell over another point guard to put Flagg in a more on-ball role. The 18-year-old is special, but it is rare for a rookie to impact winning as the primary creator on his team.
The Mavs dumped Luka Doncic in a still-impossible-to-believe trade. They did not shop their superstar. Nico Harrison targeted Anthony Davis because of his defense.