Dallas Mavericks Secure First Pick in 2025 NBA Draft

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00:00So we have reacted to everything we have seen in this opening hour

00:04in our doubleheader of Game 4 action in the NBA postseason.

00:08But that's not how the night around the association got started.

00:11The NBA Draft Lottery in Chicago.

00:15We presented the chances and the likelihoods for the teams

00:18that finished with terrible records in the 2024-25 regular season

00:22and their outlook in the Cooper Flag sweepstakes

00:25to land that first overall pick in the generational superstar out of Duke.

00:31What we did not expect is to show you this at the very start of the draft order.

00:37Who's selecting number one?

00:40The Dallas Mavericks with a 1.8% chance from the betting odds,

00:4739-1 plus 3,900.

00:51The Dallas Mavericks, somehow, someway, wink, wink,

00:56earned that first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft in late June.

01:02And Cooper Flag, you are a Dallas Maverick.

01:06Yeah, the Mavericks, man, all of a sudden looking up on the timeline

01:09when they were so down and all those fans that were asked to come back

01:12and take a discount from season tickets for the next season.

01:15I bet they're scrambling to find those emails to reply back.

01:17Oh, never got this email.

01:19Sorry about that.

01:20Sure, I'll take 50% off my season tickets next year

01:22and re-up after I told you to blankety-blank in the previous email.

01:26Hope that didn't find the sender going through at that point.

01:29But understand this, if we can put those odds back up there again,

01:32or at least the draft order themselves, here's what I keep.

01:35Look, the Mavericks, 39-43.

01:37Make that team better.

01:38It's better for the NBA.

01:40Look at the Spurs.

01:40Have one of the most exciting, young, talented teams right now.

01:43Give them a great draft pick.

01:45That's better for the NBA.

01:46The Sixers in a major market with Joel Embiid and Paul George and Tyrese Maxey.

01:50Now going to get a really good player.

01:51Make them better.

01:52The Hornets are a complete waste of time throughout NBA history.

01:56The Jazz, outside of the Stockton years,

01:58which anybody right now watching this show probably barely remembers,

02:01they are a complete waste of time.

02:02Don't help them out.

02:03Then you take a look at the Wizards,

02:04the most irrelevant franchise in the history of professional sports in the United States.

02:08Glad they didn't get it.

02:09And then the Pelicans, also an utter complete waste of time in NBA landscape.

02:14So the top three teams, which people will be excited to watch next year,

02:18got better, which is what the NBA needed.

02:19The waste of space teams didn't get help, which again, is exactly what the NBA needed.

02:25And so Donnie is more the conspiracy theorist between the two hosts here on the early line.

02:31I often balk at the idea that anything could be hashtag rigged or manufactured by the NBA,

02:38by its commissioner, Adam Silver, or the league office.

02:41But I actually do believe in fans having to question what exactly we saw.

02:47Part of that is because of how the draft lottery plays out.

02:51We talked about it yesterday.

02:53Honesty and transparency, often a fantastic thing.

02:57So the NHL draft lottery, they do the selecting of the ping pong balls,

03:01trying to bounce in the favor of a franchise live on air.

03:05Not only do I think that's fantastic and exciting television,

03:09it also goes to show that, hey, things can be quirky and weird,

03:13but there is honesty.

03:14It's not just a couple of sports media members and executives in a back room somewhere in Chicago.

03:20It is right in front of the public's eyes.

03:23So it does not allow us to question what is happening.

03:28Conspiracy or not, DRS.

03:30I think it is very fair to point at the updated draft lottery system and say,

03:36what are we doing here?

03:37Because to Donnie's point, it rewards teams that might be a franchise player away from winning an NBA championship.

03:45It rewards executives who make the dumbest trade in NBA history and then get to celebrate just about two and a half months later.

03:54It does not reward franchises that are starved for success, that you can watch a Utah Jazz team put out a cast of who's who

04:04and win 17 games and should have a generational superstar in reward for it to only draft fifth?

04:13What is that?

04:14DRS, I think for the fourth consecutive year or maybe fifth consecutive year now,

04:19the team with the worst record in the regular season in the NBA will be drafting fifth overall.

04:26Not even first, second, third, or fourth.

04:30Fifth overall.

04:31Look at the records for the Hornets, the Jazz, and the Wizards, and they're not even top three.

04:38Yeah, good.

04:39Go out and spend some money.

04:40Get some actual talent.

04:41Hire general managers.

04:42Not just say, hey, we got Michael Jordan as our owner.

04:46Yeah, good luck with that.

04:46How'd that work out for the past 20 years?

04:48Like, actually add some real basketball talent to your roster and real talent evaluators,

04:52and maybe you're not bitching about sitting there saying, we didn't get the top pick.

04:56How about you win some more basketball games by drafting good basketball players,

04:59by going on the free agent market and drafting, or excuse me, getting better players in that respect?

05:04It's not a surprise.

05:05Like, look at the teams that we get upset about that missed out, right?

05:07They are historically horrendous, meaningless franchises.

05:12Who cares about them?

05:13Right, but if we're ever trying to change the fact that they're historically irrelevant and horrible,

05:19you give them a generational talent, and maybe they become a part of the NBA conversation

05:25for their fan bases trying to buy in.

05:28Three consecutive years, the teams with the worst record in the NBA in the regular season,

05:33drafts fifth overall.

05:34This year, it's the Utah Jazz.

05:36Since the NBA draft lottery updated, the teams that finished with the three worst records,

05:40all in equal shot at 14%.

05:43Since 2019, never have any of those three teams draft, or the teams with the worst record

05:50in that model, drafted first overall.

05:52It is insane.

05:53I would just also argue, DRS, just to play devil's advocate to what you are presenting.

05:58The Philadelphia 76ers had a disastrous year, where the front office spent on a terrible deal

06:03for Paul George, who was the only healthy guy in large part, and he was awful.

06:07Joel Embiid gets injured.

06:08He's never a part of the conversation.

06:10And they get rewarded.

06:11Despite trying to spend and be good, they didn't get the benefit of making those deals.

06:17The Dallas Mavericks made arguably the worst trade in NBA history.

06:21And Nico Harrison now gets to celebrate.

06:24That's where it gets crazy.

06:27Not for the fan bases.

06:28They deserve it.

06:29And Dallas' fan base certainly deserves Cooper Flagg.

06:33But I think it's just crazy that these teams are rewarded for making awful deals,

06:38missing out on sky-high expectations, and for the Mavericks finishing a win or two away

06:44from making the playoffs.

06:46And now they draft first overall.

06:48No, but they're also bigger market teams with superstar players.

06:51Like, if you throw Cooper Flagg to Utah, it's like, that's never going to work.

06:54In five years, he'll be looking for a way out to try to get to Miami at this point.

06:57At least reward the teams that you figure next year can actually get a leap up and provide

07:03instant access to television and fun ratings here.

07:06Nobody wants to see Cooper Flagg wallow in Utah.

07:10Thank good he's not going to do that.

07:13It's got to be fun to see him out there in Salt Lake.

07:15Would be an immediate fan favorite.

07:17Let's do it.

07:18Let's do it.

07:19Let's do it.

07:20Let's do it.

07:21Let's do it.

07:22Let's do it.

07:23Let's do it.

07:24Let's do it.

07:25Let's do it.

07:26Let's do it.

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