Mavericks must stop Nico Harrison's self-destructive habit before it ruins Flagg era

Everything changed for the Dallas Mavericks on May 12 when they drew a combination of numbers from a vacuum-like glass machine sucking up ping pong balls that gave them the first overall pick in this year's NBA Draft, giving them the ability to select consensus No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg. Flagg's potential impact with the Mavericks and how much better he can make the team in the imminent future is something fans and analysts have been drooling over for over two weeks now.

However, the far more thought-provoking questions come into mind when analyzing how Dallas will build around this potential generational talent as well as what is ceiling is as a prospect. The Mavericks could undoubtedly be competitive in the next few seasons as far as fighting for a title is concerned, but their window with Flagg stretches far beyond their current core of veteran stars with Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and Klay Thompson.

While Dallas is positioned to make an addition to their front office at some point, Dallas' braintrust is still being pioneered by Nico Harrison as far as everyone is concerned, and Harrison has been on record talking about how he doesn't see his time here lasting beyond a few seasons. With that being said, Harrison can't continue to trade away future first-round draft capital throughout this new Flagg era unless it's netting something amazing back in a trade, as Dallas has to be in a position to add talent around Flagg even when their veteran core fizzles out, and building through the draft has arguably been the most profitable avenue of roster construction under this new CBA.

Nico Harrison can't continue to trade future first-round picks now

As of right now, the Mavericks' only tradable future first round picks are either of their 2029 first round picks and their 2031 first round pick, and they've already swapped one of those 2029 selections with the Houston Rockets to where Dallas would get the lesser of two teams's first round draft position in 2029, with the other 2029 first rounder coming from the Los Angeles Lakers via the Luka Doncic trade.

The Stepien rule prevents Dallas from being able to trade any of their other firsts barring their 2030 first round pick which they've already swapped for the lesser of the two with the San Antonio Spurs, but that would compromise them from being able to trade their 2031 first, so that move is essentially a no-go.

If Dallas had their 2027 first-round pick (gone in P.J. Washington trade), perhaps their would be a different discussion as to how they can re-allocate their future draft capital, especially if they had accrued more first-round picks in the Doncic trade. Besides next season though, Dallas won't control their first-round draft capital in both 2027 and 2028, and they outright won't have a pick in 2027 unless they make another trade.

Two years in a row of shooting blanks in the draft toward the end of this decade is something the Mavericks could very well find themselves running into, and this is a terrible issue to have, considering they'll be trying to build around a young superstar now. Simply put, Harrison can't continue to trade away first-round picks, especially since Dallas' only tradable first-round picks right now would come around the time Flagg is theoretically entering his prime.

While Harrison's timeline may not fit Flagg's timeline in Dallas, he's been gifted a shot at redemption from the basketball gods, and he and the rest of his staff need to do the best possible job at building a contender in this current window with Flagg while still setting up for the future with Flagg as the face of the franchise at the same time. This isn't the easiest task in the world, obviously, but it would be the most beneficial to the current and long-term success of the Mavericks, and Harrison can't afford to keep operating the way he was in regard to being extremely aggressive in trading first-round picks.

If there's a younger potential All-Star level guard that could fit Flagg's timeline well into his prime that would be available on the trade market this summer such as Anfernee Simons, maybe this is a different proposition, but Harrison should be reluctant to trade either of his 2029 first rounders or his 2031 first, as that would be compromising Flagg and Dallas' future unless the Mavericks got a steal of a trade or worked to get more future draft capital back in the next few seasons.