2026 NBA draft thread

[F Gump]

 The mismanaged tank job is one thing but they also built absolutely nothing of substance over these 82 games. It’s still exclusively Flagg and thats it. They barely played any young guys all season and didnt even make an effort to take looks at external younger players who actually might be here in a season or two. Just puzzling.

I agree that the Mavs botched the tank job, which is a big black eye on the GM types who set the priorities. That was really important, to get a top talent from this abysmal year, their golden chance to get a top running mate for Flagg. Did they? Nope. Instead, they settled for a path that will yield a low top-10 pick, in all likelihood, which gives them leftovers. Very inferior GMing.

But the idea that the Mavs "barely played any young guys all season" is so off base. 

They had 3 starters 22 or younger (Flagg, Christie, Nemby) and also gave tons of minutes to Williams, Cisse, Hardy, Kelly, Poulakidis, Johnson, Smith, Bagley to try to assess their future and perhaps help them grow as a player. Whether these were the right players or not, probably those spots need to be (and will be) upgraded next season, but there were lots of minutes allotted to youngsters. Those players got close to HALF of the total playing time this season.

At the same time, the Mavs played some veterans too, who will be headed into their prime and need to be good next season. Flagg needed that to allow his game to grow.