The Dallas Mavericks find themselves in a precarious spot, stuck in the middle tier of lottery-bound teams. It\u2019s a tight cluster featuring the Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans. Unlike those two, however, Dallas picked up a win on April 5, thanks to another standout performance from their rookie.<\/p>\n
Flagg dropped 45 points<\/a> against the Los Angeles Lakers, following up his 51-point outing<\/a> on April 3 against the Orlando Magic. He shot an efficient 14-of-27 from the field and 15-of-17 from the free-throw line, adding eight rebounds and nine assists.<\/p>\n Cooper Flagg is rewriting rookie history<\/p>\n Flagg now trails only Wilt Chamberlain for most points by a rookie over a two-game span, and already holds the record for most 40-point games by a teenager. Consequently, he’s now retaken the lead as the Rookie of the Year favorite.<\/p>\n Yet, Flagg\u2019s eruption came at a steep cost. With four games remaining, the Mavericks now sit eighth in the draft order following their win over the Lakers. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Grizzlies and Pelicans both lost, moving ahead of Dallas in the lottery standings. As a result, the Mavericks\u2019 odds of landing a top-four pick dropped from 37.2 percent to 29.0 percent in a single night, while their chances at the No. 1 overall pick fell by nearly three percent.<\/p>\n So what? A minor drop isn\u2019t the end of the world, right? Not exactly. But it\u2019s more significant than it might seem.<\/p>\n Cooper Flagg’s brilliance has put the Mavericks at risk<\/p>\n For starters, the Grizzlies and Pelicans, the Mavericks’ tanking adversaries, have lost four and eight straight games, respectively. At this rate, especially for Memphis, wins may not come again this season.<\/p>\n