Bad Luck: Mavs Too Good to Get Help From NBA Lottery

The Mavericks aren’t good enough to advance past the first round of the NBA Playoffs. And they’re not bad enough to be included in Tuesday night’s NBA Lottery.

Some folks – including owner Mark Cuban – consider this NBA purgatory.

Dallas needs to enact a roster overhaul this summer and upgrade its talent, but it likely won’t come in the draft. It certainly won’t arise from Tuesday's proceedings.

Since they made the postseason, the Mavs won’t have any ping pong balls in the hopper when the NBA announces it draft order for next month’s event. Dallas traded away its 2016 first-round draft pick for Rajon Rondo, but still has both picks for this year’s draft.

Barring trades, the Mavs will select 21st and 52nd overall in the draft. Want some good news? The Mavs did win a tie-breaker with the league’s other 52-30 team – the Bulls. So, hey, they could have been drafting 22nd.

Traditionally, the Mavs haven't been big players in the draft anyway. Oh, they've made picks. But not since 2003 (Josh Howard) have they actually added an impact player from the draft.

At this point, small victories is all we have.

As the team with the worst record, the Timberwolves have the best chance of winning tonight’s Lottery and nabbing the No. 1 overall pick. But the team with the most ping pong balls has actually won the Lottery only once since 2004.

A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.

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