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The Dallas Mavericks won the Cooper Flagg competition earlier this week when they obtained the first global selection of the NBA draft this year.
The MAVs have already insinuated that the choice is not available in a trade, and all the signs indicate that they take the star of Duke.
This is equivalent to a rescue plan for Dallas, which exchanged Luka Dončić during the season.
Because the Mavericks had only 1.8% chance of obtaining the first choice, there was speculation that the lottery was faked.
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Duke Blue Devils Cooper Flagg’s striker reacts in the second half to the Dean E. Smith Center. (Bob Donnan / Imagn images)
Anyway, it’s a huge boost for the MAVS, who just get the fourth player to win the wooden prize in the first year, joining Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson.
However, Stephen A. Smith said that Flagg’s skills were not the only reason to select it.
“When you have someone with this kind of potential, and you are white and you are in America, you keep this guy. I tell you right now,” said Smith during the Wednesday edition of “First Take”.
Smith did a little back, noting that MAV should not choose Stageg strictly because it is white.
The Dallas Mavericks celebrate the victory of the NBA Restchage Lottery. (AP / Imagn)
“The first business order is that it can ball,” added Smith. “It is because it can play, but the fact that it is white, marketable – even its name makes it more marketable. I do not transmit it at all.”
Smith’s comments echo some on Caitlin Clark last year, including the MVP Wnba A’ja Wilson.
“I think this is a huge thing. I think many people can say that it is not black and white, but for me, it is the case,” said Wilson at the time. “It is really because you can be first-rate in what you are as a black woman, but it may be something that people don’t want to see.
“They do not consider him as a marketable, so no matter how much I work. No matter what we are all doing as black women, we will always be swept away. This is why it boils my blood when people say that it is not a question of race, because it is.”
Duke Blue Devils Cooper Flagg (2) dribble the ball against the Houston Cougars striker I Wan Roberts (13) during the first half of a final match four during the NCAA 2025 tournament at Alamodome. (Bob Donnan / Imagn images)
The draft of the NBA, where Flagg will officially discover its professional destination, is scheduled for June 25.
