Just a couple months ago, the future looked bleak for Dallas' two professional basketball teams. The NBA's Mavericks had dealt franchise player Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in a stunning trade, while the WNBA's Wings had finished the 2024 season with a 9-31 record - the team's worst mark, by winning percentage, since it moved to Dallas in 2016.
But on April 14, the Wings drafted UConn star Paige Bueckers with the first pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. Eleven days later, the Mavericks won the NBA draft lottery, earning the right to select Duke phenom Cooper Flagg first overall - an event that finally took place Wednesday night.
After Bueckers congratulated and welcomed Flagg to Dallas on Thursday, Flagg had the chance to respond Friday during his first press conference as a Maverick.
"She's great," Flagg said of Bueckers. "I went on a visit to UConn, I was able to meet her and talk a little bit. She's a great person, she's had an incredible career so far."
Bueckers entered the WNBA off the back of leading UConn to its first national championship in nine years. Despite missing four games through illness or injury this season, Bueckers is already emerging as a future superstar for a Wings team that sits near the bottom of the league standings; through 12 games, she is averaging 17.7 points and 5.8 assists in the WNBA.
This is an immediate impact that Flagg will hope to replicate for the Mavericks, after his one season at Duke culminated in a Final Four appearance and a Naismith Men's College Player of the Year nod.
Flagg led the Blue Devils in points, assists, rebounds, steals and blocks last season, pointing toward a player who can contribute immediately and substantially in the NBA.