It's been a long, crummy season, but the payoff for it is getting closer.
The Mavericks, by virtue of the weekend's games, are assured of having no worse than the fifth-best odds of getting one of the top three picks in the draft via next month's lottery.
They could be as high as third. They enter the final game of the season tied with Orlando and Atlanta with 24 wins. The Magic has games at Milwaukee tonight and at home against Washington on Wednesday. The Hawks have a home game against Philadelphia on Tuesday.
And fate has dealt them a nice card in the form of Phoenix having already clinched the worst record in the NBA.