The Dallas Mavericks had incredible lottery luck a year ago, moving all the way up to the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, which allowed them to pick Cooper Flagg.
They might not need luck like that this year to end up with a great player.
The Mavs currently slot at No. 8 in the lottery odds, and ESPN’s Jeremy Woo has them using that spot in his latest mock draft to take Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr.
Brown arrived in college as probably the top guard in his class, but a back injury held him back as a freshman, and it allowed Darius Acuff, Keaton Wagler and Kingston Flemings to at least potentially leapfrog him.
That could work out nicely for the Mavericks. Getting Brown with the eighth pick could wind up being a steal.
“Brown’s back injury made it difficult for him to boost his stock in-season, making the predraft process critical to show teams he is healthy and remind them of his significant offensive talent,” Woo writes. “His positional size, shooting ability and playmaking skill should stand out in workout settings, but he needs a positive spring to work his way further up the board in a guard-heavy lottery, with Acuff, Wagler and Flemings all having outstanding seasons. There are still scouts who view Brown’s upside as the highest of the group, but it might take some work for him to leap ahead of the other top guards.”
The Mavs’ biggest need right now might be point guard. They need the right guy to handle the ball next to Cooper Flagg.
Even if they have to settle for Brayden Burries out of Arizona, that’d be a winning draft pick, too.
“The Mavericks have a long-term need at the point and will be hoping to find a running mate for Cooper Flagg, as they won’t control their own first again until 2031,” Woo writes. “Brown would be the biggest upside swing left on the board if available here, but also comes with a little more risk in his profile than some alternatives.”
The medicals will likely be the biggest determining factor for Brown. If everything looks clean in the pre-draft process, he might not make it to the Mavs anyway.
If he just slips this far, though, Dallas could be a draft winner again.
