Mavericks would quickly become the biggest winners of NBA expansion

ESPN's Shams Charania reported that NBA executives expect the Minnesota Timberwolves to move to the Eastern Conference upon expansion (or the Memphis Grizzlies), and this is amazing news for the Dallas Mavericks. The Timberwolves are clearly one of the scariest teams in the West, and getting them to switch conferences would be a huge gift for Dallas in this new era.

How expansion would help Dallas reach the NBA Finals again

Mavericks fans should be crossing their fingers that it's Minnesota and not Memphis, as getting Anthony Edwards out of the Western Conference would be perfect for Cooper Flagg. Edwards has proven himself as one of the most promising young players in the West, leading the Timberwolves to the past two Western Conference Finals, and him heading to the East would leave the Mavs with one less team to worry about as they try to return to the NBA Finals.

Going from the lottery to the NBA Finals is not an easy task, but Dallas was able to pull this off just a few years ago. Their decision to draft Dereck Lively II (along with countless other factors) helped push the Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals after they took down Edwards and the Timberwolves in the conference finals.

Mavs fans will be hoping for this result again over the next few years.

Expansion is good news for the Mavericks

Dallas still has a long way to go before they're contenders again, but they should be a playoff team by the time that the 2028-29 season rolls around. This gives them the next two seasons after this one to get where they want to be and build the right team around Flagg, as the small conference realignment isn't for another few years.

Both Seattle and Las Vegas are set to become Western Conference teams once the league expands, and this is already good news for Dallas. These teams will likely have a hard time getting their feet off the ground in their first few years in the NBA, and the Mavericks should be miles ahead of them (assuming they begin play in the 2028-29 season).

Combined with Seattle and Las Vegas likely being play-in teams at best in their first season, one of the powerhouses of the West, the Minnesota Timberwolves, could be long gone and in the Eastern Conference. Assuming the Timberwolves continue their rise and keep improving, this expansion couldn't come at a better time for Dallas.

Mavericks should want no part of Anthony Edwards

Anthony Edwards will have just turned 26 years old at the start of the 2028-29 season, and at that point, he may even have an NBA Championship under his belt. He's well on his way there, as he's averaging 29.5 points per game while shooting over 40 percent from downtown for the first time in his career, and if he's still in Minnesota when expansion happens, Mavericks fans will want him gone and far away from them.

If the Timberwolves stay, they'll likely remain one of Dallas' biggest obstacles to making the finals again. Flagg has the potential to become even better than Edwards if he continues to get better, but having Memphis stay in your conference rather than Minnesota would give the Mavs an obvious advantage.

Cooper Flagg will be entering his fourth season in the NBA when the expansion teams may join the league, and with Edwards potentially in a different conference, he won't have to worry about him anymore. One of the faces of the NBA switching conferences would give Flagg and the Mavericks a much easier path to return to the promised land, and fans should keep a close eye on this moving forward.