Mavericks' luck finally goes their way following unexpected draft lottery twist

The Dallas Mavericks head into the 2025 offseason after one of the strangest and most disappointing seasons in franchise history, and it all started on February 1 when the team traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis.

This was a move that Nico Harrison thought out, as he was targeting Davis, and Mavericks fans will never understand why he decided to trade Doncic before he hit his prime. Ever since he made this move, Harrison has been under extreme fire, and this criticism has increased significantly after his closed-door press conference last week and his open press conference yesterday.

Harrison said plenty of things that frustrated Mavericks fans during these two media availabilities, such as claiming he didn't understand how much Doncic meant to the fan base and continuously repeating "defense wins championships," but he also talked about positive things such as his optimism for next season and building the team for the future, and that starts with this summer's draft.

Mavericks' revealed draft position is better than expected

Harrison talked about how he thinks this summer's draft class is strong, and he believes that they'll be able to land a good player. While Dallas doesn't have as great of lottery odds as they would have if they had tanked the end of the season, they did get some good news in that department on Monday afternoon.

The Mavericks and Chicago Bulls were tied for the 11th and 12th-best lottery odds, and to break that, the NBA did a drawing. Dallas won the drawing, so they officially have the 11th-best odds of landing the No. 1 pick in the draft.

This is major for Dallas, as they seemingly never have anything go their way when it comes to draft lottery luck, and this coin flip win could be a great sign of things to come during the draft lottery next month. The Mavericks have never moved up in the draft lottery, and this summer would be the perfect time for them to break that horrendous streak.

Dallas getting the chance to draft Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 pick would have fans spriniting back to support the team in packs, but even if they don't move up into the top four, there are plenty of players that will be on the draft board when it's Dallas' turn to pick that would make a difference on day one.

This year's draft class is much stronger than last year's, and fans will be thrilled if they can land a day-one impact player with their first-round pick like they did in 2023 when they selected Dereck Lively II. The focus of this year's draft will undoubtedly be different since Dallas' frontcourt depth is not an issue, but the same can't be said about their backcourt.

Dallas needs guard depth badly, as they need someone who can step into an elevated role immediately and help hold down the fort until Kyrie Irving returns. They can't afford not to upgrade at guard heading into next season, as their guard room was one of the reasons they struggled after Irving tore his ACL.

There are plenty of guards in this year's draft class who would play a role in Dallas on day one, and considering they will have the No. 11 pick rather than the No. 12 pick, they'll have an additional option when it comes to adding to their roster.