Mavericks Eyeing a Trade Up in 2026 NBA Draft to Pair a Scorer With Cooper Flagg
The Dallas Mavericks landed the No. 9 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, and they are not done shopping. According to reports, the Mavs are showing trade-up interest in a three-level scoring prospect they view as a long-term backcourt running mate for Cooper Flagg.
That is exactly the move you should expect from a Dallas front office that finally has its franchise cornerstone. Flagg just won Rookie of the Year. He averaged 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.2 steals as a 19-year-old. He scored 51 points against the Magic on April 3 to become the only teenager in NBA history to crack the 50-point barrier.
That kind of player demands an aggressive supporting cast. The Mavericks know it.
Why Trading Up Makes Sense
The No. 9 pick is fine. It is also not where the elite shot creators in this draft are going to be available. If Dallas wants a guard who can give Flagg consistent help with shot creation, they have to climb the board.
The Mavericks have draft assets to move. They also have the kind of cap flexibility a team would need to give up in any trade-up scenario. The question is how aggressive they are willing to be with future picks, especially after already trading for Luka Doncic in the past and shaking up their books in major ways.
Pairing Flagg with a scoring guard would change Dallas’s entire identity. Right now, the Mavs are still figuring out who they are post-Luka era. A young dynamic duo with Flagg as the centerpiece and a guard who can attack closeouts and create his own shot would be a real foundation.
The Duke Connection Could Get Wild
Here is the fun subplot. The Mavericks have the chance to add multiple Duke products in this draft. Maliq Brown and Isaiah Evans are both in the conversation for Dallas. That would build on a core that already includes Kyrie Irving, Dereck Lively II, and Flagg himself, all former Blue Devils.
You can roll your eyes at branding moves like that, but there is also real value in players who already know each other. Lively and Flagg overlapped at Duke. Brown and Evans played alongside Flagg. The chemistry is partly pre-built.
This is the most fun the Mavericks have been in a while. They have a Rookie of the Year, a Hall of Fame guard, and a front office that is willing to be aggressive in the draft.
The 2026 NBA Draft is June 23 and 24 in Brooklyn. If the Mavs make a real move up the board, the entire conversation about the Western Conference next season changes.
Flagg’s superstar arc just started. Dallas is doing everything it can to make sure he never has to carry it alone.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
