There are a slew of people who think the Dallas Mavericks got fleeced when they traded away guard Luka Doncic (and some smaller pieces) in exchange for big man Anthony Davis, guard Max Christie and one first-round pick earlier in the year, and it’s easy to understand why.
Davis is one of the more talented big men in the league, but he’s 32 years old and injury-prone. Christie doesn’t exactly scream future star despite his promise, and just one first-round pick for a player of Doncic’s caliber isn’t a whole lot.
But now that the Mavericks landed the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft in Monday’s draft lottery, there’s nothing stopping them from selecting former Duke University standout Cooper Flagg with that pick if they want to.
That development is massive for the franchise, but former Los Angeles Lakers big man Mychal Thompson, who is also the father of Mavs veteran Klay Thompson, joked that Flagg will eventually also be traded to L.A. from Dallas.
And the good thing is Luka will only be 31 wen Dallas trades Coop to the Lakers in 5 years…
— Mychal Thompson (@champagnennuts) May 13, 2025
The Mavericks jumped a whopping 10 spots in the lottery to nab the top pick in the draft and the right to select Flagg. That marks the biggest move from any one team in the history of the lottery.
Interestingly, the draft lottery didn’t pan out well for the teams that finished with the two worst records in the league this season. The Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz fell outside of the top four entirely, and the Mavericks won more games than both of those squads combined.
Lakers forward LeBron James is only going to be playing in the league for a finite amount of time before he retires, and Flagg would theoretically serve as a great running mate alongside Doncic. He’s a two-way player who did a little bit of everything for the Blue Devils in the 2024-25 collegiate season, and he could carve out quite a career in the NBA.
All in all, the elder Thompson seemingly made his comments regarding Flagg getting dealt to the Lakers in jest, and folks shouldn’t expect him to land with the storied franchise. However, it is fun to imagine how Flagg and Doncic would complement one another on the court and what they’d potentially accomplish as a dynamic duo.
