Wizards Trade for Top Prospect Deemed an Impossibility

The Dallas Mavericks have made a few head-scratching moves over the last calendar year, but even they couldn't resist the biggest draft prize they could have asked for.

ESPN's Tim MacMahon announced that this upcoming NBA Draft's lottery winning Mavericks will hold onto the first pick they won in Monday night's lottery, they don't plan on entertaining any trades for the asset, and that they will, indeed, be bringing Cooper Flagg to Dallas.

Duke's Flagg was always the presumed top pick of the draft, a two-way playmaker with top-shelf versatility and competitive fire for a draft prospect. Expectations had to be put aside, however, when Dallas, of all teams, rose 10 spots higher than they were slotted to go and ambushed the tanking teams who'd long been salivating over Flagg.

The Washington Wizards were chief among those losing squads, having won 18 of their 82 games during the regular season in chasing lottery luck. They locked in the best odds at #1 and a guarantee that they'd fall no further than #6 in the draft, with that minimal insurance getting them only so far.

They'll pick sixth in a cruel reveal to the fans, while the reigning Western Conference champion Mavericks have another potential centerpiece to play around with just three months after trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in one of the great surprise moves the league has ever seen.

The Wizards and their three picks, including #18 alongside #6 in the first round, may have had some hopes at trading for the right to draft Flagg after missing out on that luxury last night, but even that unlikely option now becomes an impossibility after MacMahon's report.