We know the Dallas Mavericks have said they plan to select Duke forward Cooper Flagg in the 2025 NBA draft on June 25 and will not entertain the possibility of trading away the No. 1 pick for a proven superstar.
But what if a trade offer landed on the desks of Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison and team governor Patrick Dumont that at least forced the organization to briefly consider the option … before saying no?
With less than a month before the two-day draft (both nights at 8 ET on ABC and ESPN), we are examining some of the possibilities for Flagg’s future in the pros.
Before landing the draft’s top spot in the lottery, Dallas was already labeled as a team that could contend in the Western Conference next season but only if it had a healthy roster. The addition of the No. 1 pick — a first-year talent who has been the uncontested top choice for the past year — has only heightened that.
Flagg would join a Mavericks team that has 13 players under contract from this past season’s roster, including Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, who has a player option. Irving is probably going to sit out an extended period of time as he recovers from a torn left ACL sustained in March.
Dallas has flexibility to make a trade — if one materializes. Besides the top pick in June …
— The Mavericks have the Los Angeles Lakers’ unprotected first in 2029 and the ability to trade their own first in either 2031 or 2032. They also have 10 players earning between $2 million and $16 million, including Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford.
— Flagg could be entering as a star on a Mavericks roster that’s brimming with talented wings, but a franchise that is $17 million over the luxury tax and over both aprons. The Mavericks also have three tradeable first-round picks and two seconds.
— There is the question of whether ownership would approve trading a No. 1 pick such as Flagg for Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and the two years left on his contract.
We asked our NBA insiders (Bobby Marks, Zach Kram, Kevin Pelton and Andre Snellings) to come up with potential Flagg trades for the Mavericks’ top pick, and the right to draft Flagg. Let’s dig into the deals, including starting with how the situation in Dallas is looking before the draft.
Jump to a team:
Dallas | San Antonio | Phoenix
Cleveland | L.A. Lakers | Chicago
How keeping No. 1 pick plays into Mavs’ future
On May 12, minutes after the Mavericks won the right to select Flagg, there was speculation from team executives ESPN spoke to on whether the pick would be in play if a trade materialized.
Why wouldn’t it considering Harrison’s aggressive nature in business pursuits?
Since taking over basketball operations in June 2021, Harrison has made 16 trades and continually searched for the right combination of players to win a championship. None more evident than swapping out Luka Doncic for Davis this past February. The trade has the Mavericks in a win-now mode considering Davis has three years left on his contract.
But as sources confirmed to ESPN, the Mavericks plan to select Flagg and will not entertain the possibility of trading away the pick for a proven superstar.
While there is a temptation, especially if a player such as Antetokounmpo were available in a trade, the approach by Dallas is smart from a roster-building standpoint.
Financially, Flagg’s four-year rookie contract is comparable to a free agent signing the non-tax midlevel exception. His $13.8 million salary in Year 1 is below the average player salary.
With Davis and Irving on the roster next season, swapping out Flagg’s salary for a player earning more than $50 million makes little sense.
And then there is the realization that first-round picks do not change teams after their original contract expires. The Mavericks could have Flagg under contract for the next four seasons and an additional five. — Marks
Offer No. 1: Spurs move up to build frontcourt of the future
Dallas Mavericks get: 2025 No. 2 pick, 2025 No. 14 pick, 2027 Atlanta Hawks’ first-rounder, return of swap rights to Mavericks’ 2030 first-rounder
San Antonio Spurs get: 2025 No. 1 pick
The ultimate goal of this trade is to pair Flagg and Victor Wembanyama, the most-hyped No. 1 pick of the decade. They would be Tim Duncan and David Robinson for a new generation. And although the Spurs just missed out on winning the lottery, they have the assets that might entice Dallas to swap No. 1 for No. 2.
What should it cost to move up at the top of the draft? In 2017, the Philadelphia 76ers needed to send only a single future first-rounder to Boston to jump from No. 3 to No. 1. But that’s not an especially useful model here, because then-Celtics GM Danny Ainge didn’t view Markelle Fultz, the consensus top prospect in 2017, as favorably as everyone views Flagg this year.
So let’s recreate an older draft trade to build the Spurs’ offer.
In 1993, the Warriors sent three future firsts to the Orlando Magic to facilitate a swap of No. 3 pick Penny Hardaway (Memphis) for No. 1 pick Chris Webber (Michigan). That sounds about right here, with Flagg filling in for Webber — who, like Flagg, was a mega-prospect coming off a standout college career — and Dylan Harper filling in for Hardaway as a big, dynamic guard.
To bridge the gap between the prospects, San Antonio would send three draft assets to help Dallas replenish its rather barren draft hoard. The Mavericks would add a late lottery pick in the 2025 draft, a potentially attractive unprotected Hawks pick in 2027 and a return of their own 2030 swap rights, which they’d initially sent to San Antonio in the three-team sign-and-trade deal that brought Grant Williams to Dallas.
This trade would make a ton of sense for San Antonio, which could establish its frontcourt of the future — and, perhaps, the frontcourt that would dominate the NBA for the foreseeable future — while not losing any of its own future draft selections. And as long as the Mavericks like Harper (or Ace Bailey, or VJ Edgecombe, or any other options at No. 2) anywhere close to as much as they like Flagg, this swap would also make a ton of sense for them. — Kram
Offer No. 2: Cavs form new star trio in Flagg, Mobley and Garland
Dallas Mavericks get: Guard Donovan Mitchell, 2031 first-round pick (via Lakers), 2028 first-round swap (via Lakers), 2030 first-round swap (via Lakers)
Cleveland Cavaliers get: 2025 No. 1 pick, guards Jevon Carter and Gabe Vincent, forwards Maxi Kleber and P.J. Washington, center Daniel Gafford
Los Angeles Lakers get: Center Jarrett Allen
Chicago Bulls get: Forwards Dalton Knecht and Caleb Martin, 2026 second-round pick (via Cavaliers), 2027 second-round pick (via Nuggets), 2028 second-round pick (via Cavaliers)
To quote Batman and George Costanza, “You want to get nuts? Come on, let’s get nuts.” Would the Cavaliers actually break up a team that posted the NBA’s second-best record (64-18) in pursuit of Flagg? Surely not, but if Cleveland believed that the loss to the Indiana Pacers exposed fatal flaws and if the Cavaliers felt recentering the roster around 23-year-old Evan Mobley was the right response, this move could help everyone involved.
For the Mavericks, Mitchell is a better fit than Antetokounmpo, who would crowd a frontcourt limited on shooting. Mitchell could start next season at point guard in place of Irving, then slide to the 2 when Irving returns. Dallas also comes out of this trade with the Lakers’ draft assets the team failed to collect in the Doncic deal, continuing to bet against how Doncic will age.
Cleveland builds a new trio of stars with Flagg, Mobley and Darius Garland, none of them older than age 25. For now, the Cavaliers should be able to remain competitive in the East thanks to depth and defense. A frontcourt of Flagg, Mobley and either Gafford or Washington would be one of the NBA’s best on defense, while sliding Max Strus to guard would give Cleveland more size in the backcourt.
Because this trade must be completed by June 30 before Mitchell’s extension kicks in and his salary jumps from $35.4 million to $46.4 million to avoid triggering a hard cap for the Mavericks at the first apron, the Cavaliers can’t actually save much on their 2025-26 luxury tax bill. But three of the contracts they’re taking back are expiring, meaning massive savings in 2026-27. And those expiring pacts should be movable (or stretchable) in future deals using Cleveland’s remaining first-round assets.
The Lakers get their long-desired rim-running center in Allen, undoubtedly the best big man available to them in terms of current value. Getting Allen costs them not only the pick, swap and Knecht (what they tried to send the Charlotte Hornets for Mark Williams), but also a second swap. If the Lakers can build around Allen and Doncic like they hope, that swap shouldn’t convey anyway.
Lastly, the Bulls are needed as a fourth team to ensure none of the other three teams adds salary in this deal, which would hard cap them at the lower luxury tax apron. Chicago takes on the remainder of Martin’s contract in exchange for adding Knecht and all of the Cavaliers’ tradeable second-round picks. — Pelton
Offer No. 3: Mavs pick up Booker and elite big-man depth
Dallas Mavericks get: Devin Booker, 2025 first-rounder (No. 29), 2028 first-rounder (least favorable of own, Knicks and Wizards), 2029 first-round pick swap (least favorable of Cavs, Timberwolves and Jazz)
Phoenix Suns get: 2025 No. 1 pick, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall and Caleb Martin
The premise of this offer — trading a potential NBA megastar — is to underscore the Mavericks’ need to improve their roster now. The Doncic-for-Davis trade put the Mavericks in win-now mode anyhow, with a timeline tied around Davis, 32, and Irving, 33, so it would behoove them to trade the future for the now. With those guidelines in place, trading for Booker would make a lot of sense.
The Mavericks, as constructed, have elite big-man depth and a perennial All-Star point guard in Irving but could use another dynamic perimeter presence on the wing. Dallas will need an elite playmaker who can lead the team while Irving is out, but play next to him when he returns.
Enter Booker, who was a first-team All-NBA shooting guard in 2021-22, and is squarely in his prime at 28 years old. A healthy core of Davis, Irving and Booker would be able to contend for championships immediately, and Booker would remain a centerpiece even as Davis and Irving start to age out of their primes. Add on that Dallas also gets some draft considerations in this deal.
For the Suns, this offseason has the feel of a franchise that’s ready to change everything and rebuild. Their attempt to win with a team featuring three pure scorers without enough supporting infrastructure didn’t yield dividends, their salary cap situation is untenable and they have already traded away several future draft assets.
It has been widely rumored that Phoenix will trade Kevin Durant this offseason as well, and if the Suns were to do that deal before this one, they might have more assets to sweeten the offer for Flagg. As is, getting Flagg’s potential to be their franchise cornerstone for the next generation would be amazing value, even dealing Booker and all of the draft considerations they could move.
In the hypothetical scenario in which Durant is moved before the draft, the Suns being able to include potential assets from such a deal would most likely allow them to make a more competitive offer than what is being suggested here. — Snellings
0:33
Devin Booker laments lack of ‘winning culture’ in Phoenix
When asked about the Suns building a winning culture and identity, Devin Booker says it was “one of the steps” the team skipped.
And the one trade that is hard to pass on …
Marks picks most realistic of the trades and explains why or why not this could be feasible:
The Mitchell and Booker trades make the most sense if the Mavericks were operating on a two-to-three-year timeline that Harrison described after trading for Davis. But, that same timeline expanded an extra eight years when Dallas won the draft lottery and the right to draft an impactful defender and versatile talent in Flagg.
Trading out of the first pick is certainly a risk considering Flagg’s upside and his fit alongside Davis. But the Mavs moving back one slot to No. 2 to draft Harper and picking up three additional draft assets, including another first in this year’s lottery, is hard to pass.
Remember, the Celtics traded the No. 1 pick to Philadelphia in the 2017 draft, and they would go on to select future six-time All-Star Jayson Tatum two slots later.
More importantly, the two unprotected firsts from Atlanta (2027) and the Lakers (2029) put the Mavericks in the front of the line if a player such as Antetokounmpo or Durant becomes available.
