Mavericks Report Card: Cooper Flagg Gives Dallas' Offseason an 'A' Grade

The Dallas Mavericks have been busy this offseason and will enter the upcoming season with more questions than answers—but in their case, that might not be a bad thing.

For starters, the basketball gods smiled on the organization during the NBA Draft Lottery, awarding them the No. 1 overall pick. The Mavericks used it to select Duke phenom Cooper Flagg—a move that could reshape the franchise’s future.

Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley recently graded every NBA team’s entire 2025 offseason and gave Dallas a fine grade of A-.

“The Mavericks' miraculous win at the draft lottery could pay dividends for the next decade-plus,” Buckley wrote. “Cooper Flagg was clearly the best prospect in this class, and if you buy the most optimistic scouting reports about him, he could be a certified star on both ends of the court.

“Is that enough to get Dallas an A-plus? Maybe it should be, although there wasn't a lot of thought involved. Any team that had the No. 1 pick would've used it on Flagg. That selection was cemented the second the Mavs collected their jackpot prize.”

Dallas was also able to re-sign two core players to contract extensions in superstar point guard Kyrie Irving and athletic center/forward Daniel Gafford. Irving inked a three-year $119 million deal, while Gafford signed a three-year, $60 million contract.

“Getting Kyrie Irving to decline his $43 million player option and sign a new deal with a smaller starting salary opened up the taxpayer midlevel exception, which it used to add D'Angelo Russell, who will help steady the point guard position while Irving makes his way back from an ACL tear,” Buckley wrote.

Questions remain, but the grade is in ... and with Flagg’s potential and a reshaped roster, the answers will come sooner rather than later.