Early trends show Mavericks got luckier over the summer than anyone expected

Last season, the Dallas Mavericks shocked the world as they went on an absolute tear at the end of the regular season to secure the No. 5 seed, and their playoff run after the end of the regular season was magical.

Dallas knocked off the LA Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Minnesota Timberwolves on the way to their first NBA Finals appearance since 2011, but Dallas ultimately ended up losing in five games to the Boston Celtics.

Since Dallas was so successful in the regular season last year, they weren't part of the draft lottery and their protected first-round pick finally went to the New York Knicks as part of the Kristaps Porzingis trade. This 2024 first-round pick going to the Knicks finally finalized the Porzingis trade, and Dallas' action-filled summer that included signing Klay Thompson looks even better now than it did before the season began.

Mavericks losing their first-round pick happened in the perfect year

Yahoo Sports' Tom Haberstroh recently broke down how this year's rookie class is performing after one week of regular season action, and the numbers are looking bad for these youngsters. Not a single rookie has scored 15 or more points in a game this season, and many of this year's lottery picks aren't even key pieces of their new teams' rotations.

Dallas' pick that they traded to the Knicks going from a 2023 first-round pick to a 2024 first-round pick is extremely lucky considering how bad this year's rookie class has been, and whoever Dallas would have drafted (if they owned the selection) likely wouldn't even be in Jason Kidd's rotation at this juncture.

For reference, the Knicks drafted Kyshawn George with the pick they acquired from Dallas (and traded him to the Washington Wizards), and he has not made much of an impact for his new team despite receiving heavy minutes.

The playing time for these rookies around the league is even down, and through the first three games, not a single rookie played over 30 minutes. This has never happened before, and it just speaks volumes as to how poor this year's draft class looks so far.

Dallas keeping their 2023 first-round pick looks better by the day, and that pick ended up being Dereck Lively II (the Mavs traded down two spots to select him). Lively II is having an excellent start to the season so far, and if Dallas hadn't finished in the bottom 10 last year, that pick would have gone to the Knicks instead of the Mavs keeping it.

Since Dallas kept that pick and selected Lively II, the protection moved to 2024, and the Knicks got to keep the pick since the Mavs weren't a bottom-10 team in the league. But even if Dallas kept the 2024 first-round pick, no one that would have been available when they would have been on the clock would have been ready to contribute anyway.

Since Dallas owns their 2025 first-round pick, maybe they'll be able to find some young talent to add to their roster then. That class projects to be much better than this year's weak rookie class, and the Mavs' recent luck of finding gems in the draft to add to their core could continue.