With the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft, the Dallas Mavericks hold the rights to the number one overall pick. The Mavericks were awarded the pick after entering the lottery with just a 1.8% chance to be at the top spot. After a season that included trading Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis, who got hurt, Kyrie Irving getting hurt and the team losing in the play-in games, it seems that the luck has finally turned as the Mavericks now have a chance to replace Doncic.
Throughout the franchise’s history, the Mavericks have held the number one pick just one time. In 1981, the Mavericks selected DePaul’s Mark Aguirre with the number one pick. The closest they got to reclaiming the number one pick was in 1994, when Dallas selected Jason Kidd with the number two pick. With the success of the franchise since Dirk Nowitzki joined, the Mavericks are sort of in uncharted territory when it comes to the 2025 NBA Draft.
With that being said, let’s take a look at how Aguirre fared in Dallas, as well as what we can expect from their selection this season.
First Overall Pick in the Dallas Mavericks Draft History
1981 | Mark Aguirre – Forward – DePaul
Even though they have just one championship to their name, the Dallas Mavericks have enjoyed a ton of success in their 45 years of existence. Over that 45-year time period, they have made the playoffs 26 times. On top of that, they have only 10 selections inside the top seven since Dirk Nowitzki joined the team in 1998. The only time that they held the number one pick, the Mavericks drafted Mark Aguirre.
When looking back at NBA history, Aguirre is certainly one of the more underrated players of the 1980s. At DePaul, Aguirre was a one-time Naismith Player of the Year and a two-time consensus All-American.
Aguirre immediately made an impact for the Mavericks, averaging 18.7 points per game (PPG) and helping the team improve their record by 13 games. From there, Aguirre’s career took off. His next six seasons in Dallas saw him average 22 PPG or more every single season, climaxing with a 29.5 PPG season performance in his third season.
With the additions of players like Rolando Blackman, James Donaldson, Brad Davis, Derek Harper and Sam Perkins, the Mavericks started an ascent towards the top of the Western Conference. After bowing out early in the NBA Playoffs, Aguirre helped to lead the Mavericks to a Western Conference Finals appearance in the 1987-88 season, where they eventually lost to the Los Angeles Lakers. This conference finals appearance was the longest run from the franchise in its first eight years of existence.
Even though the Mavericks looked to be the part of being able to compete in the west, the lack of finals appearances and in-house relationship soured Aguirre with head coach Dick Motta and his teammates. This eventually led to the Mavericks opting to trade Aguirre eight years after selecting him. Aguirre was traded to the Detroit Pistons for Adrian Dantley, whom Aguirre often competed with for high-scoring affairs, and a first-round pick. While Dantley was a great player during his time in the NBA, trading away the franchise’s best player at the time felt like an end to an intriguing core in Dallas. Dallas eventually fell into a rebuild, where by 1994, they were in a position to take Kidd with the second pick of the draft.
As for Aguirre, he became an important part of the Detroit Pistons, helping the bad boys win back-to-back championships in the late 80s.
2025 | Cooper Flagg (?) – Forward – Duke
As soon as it was revealed that the Dallas Mavericks would select first in the 2025 draft, many people called it fishy that the Mavericks were going to get another generational talent in Cooper Flagg. Whatever you think about the conspiracy, one thing is certain: Flagg will instantly be inserted into an already dynamic starting lineup. While he is going to miss much of the next season, if the Mavericks are able to tread water and make the playoffs, a starting lineup of Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, Cooper Flagg and Anthony Davis will have to be taken seriously.
While Flagg’s offensive game at Duke proved that he is a three-level scorer who can take games over when the team is in a rut, the number one thing about his game is the NBA-level defense he showed in college. Having Anthony Davis already gives the Dallas guards a lot of flexibility to take chances on steals and pressure heavily, but with Flagg, they should have the ability to match up with players like Jimmy Butler, LeBron James, Julius Randle and Kawhi Leonard.
Speaking of Leonard, it seems like he has a lot of influence on Flagg’s game. At the base level, a lanky forward who can score from the midrange with stifling defense. Not that Flagg is going to be Leonard, but there is some similarity.
In a perfect world, Flagg ends up similar to some, like Kevin Garnett and, at the worst, Andrei Kirilenko feels like a safe comparison. Either way, Dallas has their new franchise player, less than six months after trading away Luka Doncic. Maybe Nico Harrison knew something all along?
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