Mavericks' disappointing lottery gifts them a legendary chance to repeat history

Even though the Dallas Mavericks fell to No. 9 in the NBA Draft Lottery yesterday despite having over a 60 percent chance to stay put at eighth or move up into the top four, there's a silver lining to this. Dallas has drafted legendary players, such as Dirk Nowitzki and Rolando Blackman, with the ninth overall pick in their franchise history, and they'll be hoping for more of the same fortune this year.

The Mavericks have had serious success in this position already

The Milwaukee Bucks drafted Nowitzki ninth in 1998, and he was immediately traded to the Mavericks. Dallas drafted Robert Traylor for the Bucks sixth, while Milwaukee drafted Nowitzki to send to the Mavs. This move was just like when the Atlanta Hawks drafted Doncic with the third pick before trading him to the Mavericks for Trae Young.

The Nowitzki trade will go down as one of the best moves in team history, as the seven-foot German is the unanimous best Maverick of all time, while Traylor averaged less than five points per game for his career.

Seventeen years before Nowitzki, Dallas struck gold with No. 9 for the first time. They drafted Blackman out of Kansas State with that pick after drafting Mark Aguirre with the No. 1 pick earlier that night. In just their second draft in team history, the Mavericks found great value with the ninth pick.

Blackman became one of the best players in team history, and he is one of the five players whose jerseys are in the rafters at the American Airlines Center. Joined by players like Nowitzki and Aguirre, Blackman's pedigree speaks for itself.

He averaged 19.2 points per game while shooting 49.7 percent from the field in 865 games as a Maverick and made three NBA All-Star Games. Blackman was the initial proof that there's something special about ninth overall picks in Dallas, and it was only fitting that he was the on-stage representative for the team at the lottery.

He admitted that the team wanted the No. 1 pick, but he also couldn't knock on the ninth pick too much because that's where he was drafted. Blackman mentioned how deep this year's draft class is, and there are going to be plenty of options for them once they're on the clock.

Dallas' upper brass echoed this sentiment, as general manager Mike Schmitz talked about how confident he was during his media availability right after the lottery. They haven't narrowed it down to what position they're targeting yet, but with how much backcourt talent there is, it would be shocking if they don't take a serious look at the guards on the board.

This year's No. 9 pick lines up with one of their biggest needs

Kyrie Irving needs some help behind him, and with how this draft is poised to shake out, the Mavericks are going to have several elite guards going in their range. Keaton Wagler, Mikel Brown Jr., Kingston Flemings, and Darius Acuff Jr. are all poised to go in that 5-10 range, and any of these players falling to the ninth pick would be a dream come true for Dallas.

Mavericks fans are already gravitating toward Brown Jr. after he proclaimed that Dallas is his favorite city in the country this weekend, and he is among the best fits for them as well. His ability to lead the offense, create off the dribble, and score at all three levels, all while being 6-foot-5, may be too intriguing for the Mavs to pass up if he's still on the board, and he'd become a fan-favorite right away.

Dallas is going to have plenty of options to pick from when they're on the clock at No. 9, and if history repeats itself, they could become a Mavs legend.

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