The basketball gods decided to give the Dallas Mavericks a second chance.
It's hard to come up with a better explanation for the good fortune the Mavs got, going from the Luka Doncic trade to the Cooper Flagg draft pick.
In February 2025, they shocked the entire NBA by trading Doncic away for an Anthony Davis-led package from the Los Angeles Lakers.
Doncic, a generational superstar who had just carried the Mavs to the NBA Finals, was the kind of player you never trade.
The Mavericks used musings about Doncic's body and defense to justify it. But it quickly was viewed as an awful deal.
That should've doomed the Mavs' franchise for years to come.
Instead, the Mavericks got lucky in the lottery and landed the top pick to take Flagg out of Duke.
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How Luka Doncic trade led to Cooper Flagg
The Mavericks didn't have great lottery odds to begin with.
But somehow, they backdoored their way into the top pick.
That wouldn't have happened if they kept Doncic.
Davis got hurt in his first game with Dallas, and so they stayed out of the postseason.
If Doncic had stuck around, he very likely would've willed the Mavs into the back half of the playoffs. They wouldn't have had lottery ping-pong balls at all. They would've never gotten Flagg.
Of course, they still would've had Doncic. But at least, somehow, they got a do-over.
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