DALLAS - The idea of the San Antonio Spurs moving Heaven and Earth.to bring Cooper Flagg to the Alamo City to team with Victor Wembanyama?
It makes all the sense … on Heaven and on Earth … for the Spurs.
But ESPN’s NBA Draft-time push for the No. 1 overall pick, Duke superstar Flagg, to be moved by Dallas read then and reads now like some odd combination of naïveté and trolling.
ESPN's insiders thought such a swap would be of great benefit to the Spurs … and they are darn right about that..
But they left out any Mavs-related logic.
The theoretically compelling offer to the Mavericks?
ESPN's Zach Kram suggested that the Mavs receive the Spurs' Nos. 2 and 14 overall picks in the draft, as well as the Atlanta Hawks' 2027 first-rounder, and their 2030 first-round pick swap rights,
So … multiple picks to lose a generational talent?
Forget Cooper Flagg; didn’t Dallas GM Nico Harrison just do that with the disastrous trade of Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers? (But minus the multiple picks, of course.)
Can you imagine the controversial spit-storm that would ensue if Nico did it all over again and after losing Doncic also lost Flagg?
ESPN offered up details of other NBA trades over the years that compared to this trade suggestion … but they were missing the point.
This isn’t Fantasy Basketball. In real life, no matter what would’ve been good for the Spurs, Nico’s Mavs not only wouldn’t trade Cooper Flagg …
They almost literally can’t.