Flagg has been the obvious No. 1 pick all season, but Harrison's decision to trade the 25-year-old Dončić for a 31-year-old Anthony Davis suggested that Dallas was all-in on the present. Had that been the case, Dallas could have offered Flagg for a number of veteran All-Stars, most notably Giannis Antetokounmpo should he become available.

The Dallas Mavericks having a 1.8-percent chance to win the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft doesn’t even begin to explain how inexplicable it is that they’ll likely select Cooper Flagg as their next piece of the puzzle.

After Davis suffered an adductor strain in his Mavs debut that caused him to miss six weeks, the team endured a string of injuries to multiple key players, most notably Irving. The 33-year-old suffered a torn ACL in March that ended his season prematurely and will likely cost him a significant portion of next season as well.