Mavericks' Anthony Davis trade just hit an unexpected draft problem

The Dallas Mavericks landed five future draft picks as part of the Anthony Davis trade with the Washington Wizards, but one of these picks is losing value fast thanks to the growing NIL era in college sports.

Dallas landed the No. 30 overall pick in this year's draft to go along with their own lottery pick, and the talent that they once expected to be available there is diminishing. With Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon electing to stay at Florida, Braylon Mullins staying at UConn, Patrick Ngongba remaining at Duke, and Tounde Yessoufou from Baylor entering the transfer portal, players who were projected to be drafted in the first round are electing to return to school.

NIL is quietly hurting the Mavericks

Even Tyler Tanner may stay at Vanderbilt rather than enter the NBA Draft. All of these players were projected to get drafted in the first round, and NIL is changing everything in college athletics. Players have serious incentives to remain in college due to the massive amounts of money that they can earn, along with the chance to gain extra experience and improve their draft stock, and the fact that Haugh is going back to Florida shows that many things are changing.

He was going to be a guaranteed first-round pick, but he's playing his senior year at Florida with the hope that he can win another National Championship.

Typically, players who were projected to go in the second round would often go back to college to improve their draft stock and earn some money. This was the best path forward since second-round picks don't often get guaranteed contracts, but the fact that first-round picks are beginning to stay in college is alarming for teams that own late first-round picks.

Dallas needs to draft an impact player with their second first-round pick, and the odds of this happening are unfortunately decreasing with so many players electing to stay in college. These players going back to school will ultimately cause less-proven players to slide up draft boards, simultaneously decreasing the overall talent level of this year's draft class.

Why the Mavericks' second first-round pick is decreasing in value

This year's class is still one of the more impressive classes that we've seen in recent memory, but Dallas' chance of landing a role player at the end of the first round is dwindling thanks to NIL. A handful of first-round picks have already elected to remain in college, and this number could increase with the NBA Combine rapidly approaching next month.

The Mavericks will have three shots to find young players for their core (two first-round picks and a second-round pick via the Phoenix Suns (part of the Davis trade as well)), and fans will be hoping that players keep their names in the draft rather than go back to college. The Cooper Flagg era hinges on Dallas finding value in the 2026 NBA Draft, but every player who goes back to school only makes things harder for the Mavs.

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