{"id":713449,"date":"2026-04-18T20:54:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T20:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/713449\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T20:54:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T20:54:36","slug":"latest-2026-mock-draft-predicts-mavericks-land-back-to-back-no-1-picks-pair-cooper-flagg-with-69-25-5-ppg-march-madness-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/713449\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest 2026 Mock Draft predicts Mavericks land back-to-back No. 1 picks, pair Cooper Flagg with 6’9″ 25.5 PPG March Madness hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Mavericks<\/a> finished another tanking season, parting ways with Anthony Davis, and ending with a record of 26-56. With that, they\u2019ll have a top pick in the draft, giving them someone they can pair with their young star, Cooper Flagg.<\/p>\n

In Zach Buckley<\/a> of Bleacher Report\u2019s latest 2026 NBA Mock Draft, the Mavericks once again defy the odds, and land the No. 1 overall pick. They then use that pick to draft BYU Cougars forward AJ Dybantsa.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Cavaliers receive huge free agency update regarding superstar James Harden ahead of 2026 NBA Playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cA second consecutive No. 1 pick for the Mavericks? Let the conspiracy theories fly, folks. Seriously, though, how incredible would this be for the franchise? Look, that Luka Don\u010di\u0107 will always be remembered as a disaster, but Cooper Flagg has already shown cornerstone potential, and Dybantsa has all of the qualities needed to do the same\u2026Between Flagg’s versatility and Dybantsa’s forever coveted archetype, Dallas could rebuild this roster however it wants. Or maybe the Mavs mess around and become a force in the Western Conference already next season if Dybantsa hits the ground sprinting and Kyrie Irving shows no ill effects from the ACL tear he suffered in March 2025,\u201d Buckley wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This past season with the Cougars, Dybantsa averaged 25.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.1 steals in 34.8 minutes per game. Combine that with Flagg\u2019s talents, and the Mavs could have the best back-to-back draft duos since the Boston Celtics<\/a>\u2019 Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Clippers predicted to cut ties with $11 million three-time All-Star after his failure to help Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles this season<\/a><\/p>\n

Pairing these two would set Dallas up to have a superstar duo as their core for years to come. They would have two stars to build around, and create a contender that can match the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>, San Antonio Spurs<\/a>, and all the other perennial playoff teams.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, this mock draft comes true, and the Mavs have a future to look forward to.<\/p>\n

MORE\u00a0NBA<\/a>\u00a0CONTENT<\/p>\n

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Proposed blockbuster Knicks trade sees New York pair Jalen Brunson with $175 million two-time MVP, lose Karl Anthony-Towns in the process<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Mavericks finished another tanking season, parting ways with Anthony Davis, and ending with a record of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,166,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-713449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-dallasmavericks","12":"tag-mavericks","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116427703194231298","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}