Cooper Flagg in Dallas? Possible Trade Scenarios with the First Pick of the 2025 NBA Draft
The Dallas Mavericks, as announced, plan to select Cooper Flagg, Duke forward, in the 2025 NBA draft. Furthermore, they have ruled out the possibility of trading the first pick in exchange for an established superstar.However, what if a trade offer forced the Mavericks’ management to briefly reconsider this stance?
Less than a month until the draft, we examine some of the possible situations for Flagg’s future in the league.
Before obtaining the first pick in the draft, the Mavericks were already considered a team with potential in the Western Conference, as long as they had a healthy roster. The arrival of the first pick, a first-year talent who has been the undisputed number one pick for the past year, has only intensified this perspective.
Flagg would join a Mavericks team that has 13 players under contract from last season’s roster, including Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, who has a player option. Irving will likely be out for an extended period while recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee suffered in March. Dallas has flexibility to make a trade, if it materializes.- The Mavericks have the Los Angeles Lakers’ unprotected first-round pick in 2029 and the ability to swap their own first-round pick in 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 added as a star to a Mavericks roster that is filled with talented forwards, but a franchise that is $17 million over the luxury tax and over both “aprons.” The Mavericks also have three tradable first-round picks and two second-round picks.
- There is doubt as to whether ownership would approve trading a first pick like Flagg for Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee, who has two years remaining on his contract.
We analyze possible trades of Flagg for the Mavericks’ first pick, starting with the current situation in Dallas before the draft.
How Staying With the First Choice Impacts the Mavs’ Future
On May 12, minutes after the Mavericks won the right to select Flagg, there was speculation about whether the pick would be available in the event of a trade.
Since assuming basketball operations in June 2021, Harrison has made 16 trades and has continuously sought the right mix of players to win a championship. This was evidenced by trading Luka Dončić for Davis last February, putting the Mavericks in “win now” mode, considering Davis has three years remaining on his contract.However, the Mavericks plan to select Flagg and will not consider trading the pick for a proven superstar.
While there is temptation, especially if a player like Antetokounmpo were available in a trade, Dallas’s approach is smart from a roster-building perspective.
Marks
Financially, Flagg’s four-year rookie contract is comparable to a free agent signing with the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. His $13.8 million salary in the first year is below the average player salary.
With Davis and Irving on the roster next season, trading Flagg’s salary for a player earning over $50 million doesn’t make much sense.Furthermore, first-round selections do not change teams after their original contract expires. The Mavericks could have Flagg under contract for the next four seasons and five additional ones.
Offer No. 1: Spurs move to build the attack zone of the future
Dallas Mavericks receive: 2025 No. 2 pick, 2025 No. 14 pick, 2027 Atlanta Hawks first-round pick, 2030 Mavericks first-round pick swap rights
San Antonio Spurs receive: 2025 No. 1 Draft Pick
The ultimate goal of this trade is to pair Flagg and Victor Wembanyama, the most hyped number 1 pick of the decade. They would be Tim Duncan and David Robinson for a new generation. And although the Spurs fell short of winning the lottery, they have the assets that could tempt Dallas to trade the number 1 pick for the number 2.
How much should it cost to move up in the draft? In 2017, the Philadelphia 76ers only needed to send a future first-round pick to Boston to move from the number 3 spot to number 1. But that’s not an especially useful model here, because then-Celtics general manager Danny Ainge didn’t view Markelle Fultz, the consensus top prospect in 2017, as favorably as everyone views Flagg this year.
To close the gap between the prospects, San Antonio would send three draft assets to help Dallas replenish its rather barren draft treasure. The Mavericks would add a late lottery pick in the 2025 draft, a potentially attractive and unprotected pick from the Hawks in 2027, and the return of their own 2030 swap rights, which they initially sent to San Antonio in the three-way sign-and-trade deal that brought Grant Williams to Dallas.
This trade would make a lot of sense for San Antonio, who could establish their future offensive zone, and perhaps, the offensive zone that would dominate the NBA in the foreseeable future, without losing any of their own future draft picks. And as long as the Mavericks like Harper (or Ace Bailey, or VJ Edgecombe, or any other option at the number 2 spot) as much as they like Flagg, this trade would also make a lot of sense for them.
Offer No. 2: Cavs form a new star trio with Flagg, Mobley, and Garland
Dallas Mavericks receive: Donovan Mitchell, 2031 first-round pick (via Lakers), 2028 first-round pick swap (via Lakers), 2030 first-round pick swap (via Lakers)
Cleveland Cavaliers receive: 2025 No. 1 pick, Jevon Carter, Gabe Vincent, Maxi Kleber, P.J. Washington, and Daniel Gafford
Los Angeles Lakers receive: Jarrett Allen
Chicago Bulls receive: Dalton Knecht, 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 wanna get crazy? Let’s get crazy.” Would the Cavaliers really break up a team that posted the second-best record in the NBA (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 that recentering the roster around 23-year-old Evan Mobley was the right answer, this move could help everyone involved.For the Mavericks, Mitchell is a better option than Antetokounmpo, who would crowd a limited offensive zone in terms of shots. Mitchell could start next season as a point guard instead of Irving, then move to the shooting guard position when Irving returns. Dallas also comes out of this trade with the Lakers’ draft assets that the team failed to obtain in the Dončić deal, continuing to bet against how Dončić will age.
Cleveland builds a new trio of stars with Flagg, Mobley, and Darius Garland, none of them older than 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 Gafford or Washington would be one of the best in the NBA on defense, while sliding Max Strus to the shooting guard position would give Cleveland more size in the frontcourt.Because this handover must be completed before June 30, before the extension of Mitchell comes into effect and his salary increases from $35.4 million to $46.4 million to avoid triggering a hard salary cap for the Mavericks in the first “apron”, the Cavaliers can’t really save much on their 2025-26 luxury tax bill. But three of the contracts they are receiving are about to expire, which means massive savings in 2026-27. And those expiring deals should be movable (or stretchable) in future agreements using Cleveland’s remaining first-round assets.
The Lakers get their desired zone-running center in Allen, undoubtedly the best center available to them in terms of current value. Getting Allen costs them not only the pick, the trade, and Knecht (which they tried to send to the Charlotte Hornets for Mark Williams), but also a second trade. If the Lakers can build around Allen and Dončić as they hope, that trade shouldn’t materialize anyway.
Finally, the Bulls are needed as a fourth team to ensure that none of the other three teams add salary in this deal, which would restrict them in the lower “apron” of the luxury tax. Chicago takes on the rest of Martin’s contract in exchange for adding Knecht and all of the Cavaliers’ tradable second-round picks.
Offer No. 3: The Mavs Draft Booker and Elite Depth at Center
Dallas Mavericks receive: Devin Booker, 2025 first-round pick (No. 29), 2028 first-round pick (least favorable of their own, Knicks and Wizards), 2029 first-round pick swap (least favorable of Cavs, Timberwolves and Jazz)
Phoenix Suns receive: 2025 No. 1 pick, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Naji Marshall, and Caleb Martin
The premise of this offer, to trade a potential NBA megastar, is to underscore the Mavericks’ need to improve their roster now. Trading Dončić for Davis put the Mavericks in “win now” mode anyway, with a timeline tied to Davis, 32, and Irving, 33, so they would do well to trade the future for the present. With those guidelines in place, trading for Booker would make a lot of sense.
The Mavericks, as currently constructed, have elite depth at the center position 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 alongside him when he returns.
Enter Booker, who was a first-team All-NBA guard in 2021-22, and is firmly in his prime at age 28. A healthy core of Davis, Irving, and Booker could compete for championships immediately, and Booker would still be a central piece even as Davis and Irving begin to age out of their primes. Add to that that Dallas also gets some draft considerations in this deal.
For the Suns, this offseason feels like a franchise ready to change everything and rebuild. Their attempt to win with a team featuring three pure scorers without sufficient supporting infrastructure didn’t pay off, their salary cap situation is unsustainable, and they’ve already traded away several future draft assets.
It has been widely rumored that Phoenix will also trade for Kevin Durant this offseason, and if the Suns made that deal before this one, they could have more assets to sweeten the offer for Flagg. As it stands, obtaining Flagg’s potential to be their franchise cornerstone for the next generation would be incredible value, even trading Booker and all the draft considerations they could move.
In the hypothetical scenario in which Durant moves before the draft, that the Suns can include potential assets from such a deal would likely allow them to make a more competitive offer than the one suggested here.
And the only handover that is hard to refuse…
Marks chooses the most realistic transfers and explains why or why not this could be feasible:The Mitchell and Booker trades make more sense if the Mavericks were operating on a two-to-three-year timeline that Harrison described after trading Davis. But, that same timeline was extended an additional eight years when Dallas won the draft lottery and the right to select an impactful defender and versatile talent in Flagg.
Moving out of the first selection is certainly a risk considering Flagg’s potential and how he fits alongside Davis. But the Mavs moving back one position to No. 2 to select Harper and obtaining three additional draft assets, including another first-round pick in this year’s lottery, is hard to refuse.
Remember, the Celtics traded the No. 1 pick to Philadelphia in the 2017 draft, and they would go on to select Jayson Tatum, a six-time All-Star in the future, two positions later.
More importantly, Atlanta’s unprotected first two rounds (2027) and the Lakers (2029) put the Mavericks at the front of the line if a player like Antetokounmpo or Durant becomes available.
