'It Makes the Window 20 Years': Matt Riccardi Reveals How Cooper Flagg Impacts Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks have already won the 2025 NBA Draft—now they have to make it official on June 25. With the No. 1 overall pick in hand and generational prospect Cooper Flagg sitting atop every big board in the country, there’s no mystery about who’s headed to Dallas.

But the clarity surrounding the pick doesn’t extend to the Mavericks’ future.

After trading Luka Dončić in February, the Mavericks seemed to signal a short-term reset. Injuries decimated the roster, Kyrie Irving was shut down late, and a team that reached the NBA Finals last year missed the playoffs entirely. The franchise was left in limbo until the lottery balls bounced their way in May.

Dallas leapfrogged 10 spots with just a 1.8% chance to win the top selection. Suddenly, the Mavericks found themselves in possession of a potential cornerstone.

Flagg, who doesn’t turn 19 until December, is widely viewed as a franchise-changing two-way talent with the maturity, skill, and motor to contribute immediately. But his arrival raises difficult questions about direction and priorities for a team that just months ago sent its homegrown superstar packing.

Matt Riccardi: “It Makes the Window 20 Years”

Assistant general manager Matt Riccardi made a public case for how Dallas intends to square this circle.

Speaking on the Take Dat Wit You podcast, Riccardi outlined an ambitious plan for integrating Flagg into a team still trying to compete with veterans like Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Klay Thompson.

“It makes the window 20 years instead of three,” Riccardi said. “We’re trying to win it every single year, and the guys that we have, we felt like before this draft lottery, that we had a good enough team to win the championship. Now we get the chance to add the No. 1 pick to this, so we’re ecstatic for that.”

Riccardi didn’t shy away from acknowledging that Flagg is the expected pick.

“It’s business as usual for us and whoever we get, which the kid from Duke, as you’ve mentioned, you’re bringing in someone that’s won everywhere he’s been, who’s played above his age everywhere he’s been, who’s gonna walk in and be ready to go and whatever that role will be,” Riccardi explained.

Dallas Mavericks Using a Two-Timeline Tightrope

Riccardi echoed what has been described in The Athletic as a “two-timeline” approach—balancing present-day contention with future sustainability. It’s a strategy made famous by the Golden State Warriors, who tried to transition from the Stephen Curry era to a new core while still competing for titles. But that approach has proven far more difficult than it sounds—even for dynasties.

“We see it as another thing, we get to bring these guys, the 21-year-olds, the 22-year-olds on this roster, around slowly through the veterans that we have on this team,” Riccardi said. “So when those guys are done playing, I think it’ll be way more than three years. I’m hoping it’s five, six, seven years when they decide to hang it up, some of our older veterans. But when they’re done, they’re passing the torch, and they’ve shown these guys how to become NBA champions, how to win. And then that window is extended for, like I said, hopefully, 20 years.”

That sentiment is noble in theory, but far riskier in practice, especially for a team without Golden State’s infrastructure or track record. Dallas does not control its own draft picks from 2027 through 2030. Its asset cupboard is already thin. Making win-now moves today would likely further mortgage the team’s future, just as Flagg begins to enter his prime.

And as promising as Flagg is, he can’t be both the savior of the present and the future at the same time.

Cooper Flagg Forces Dallas to Look Long-Term

What Flagg’s arrival undeniably does, though, is force the Mavericks to acknowledge the future again. That wasn’t a given post-Dončić. For weeks, team messaging focused on short-term competitiveness, winning now with Davis and Irving, and salvaging the trade by making a deep playoff run. But Flagg resets the equation.

Even if Dallas continues to pursue immediate contention, the presence of a 6-foot-9 two-way forward with elite instincts gives the franchise a safety net. He offers a path forward, regardless of how this all-in approach ultimately turns out.

Still, that path becomes much narrower if Dallas burns through its few remaining assets to keep its aging core afloat. In that case, Flagg might eventually find himself in the same position Dončić once was: brilliant, but unsupported.