Mavs' no-brainer with Cooper Flagg is latest in what is becoming quite the Duke plan

DALLAS (AP) — Before the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA draft lottery and the right to select Cooper Flagg, general manager Nico Harrison said he was preparing for a pick around the 11th spot.

Which begs the obvious question: How much more draft prep did Harrison have to do?

“Not too much,” Harrison said as he resisted the urge to laugh.

It's becoming quite the Duke plan for Harrison and company.

The sudden fortune of winning the lottery with a 1.8% chance paid off Wednesday night when Dallas took Flagg No. 1 overall about 24 hours after the Mavs agreed on a new contract with Kyrie Irving. The nine-time All-Star guard was the top pick out of Duke 14 years ago.

Once Irving returns from a torn ACL, probably two or three months into next season, a healthy Dallas starting lineup is likely to include three one-and-done Blue Devils. The Mavs got center Dereck Lively II with the 12th overall pick in 2023.

Dallas won the lottery May 12, a little more than three months after the seismic trade of young superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, a move that enraged most of the fan base.

Irving's injury March 3 against Sacramento actually played a role in Dallas ending up with Flagg. It all but ended any realistic playoff hopes for the Mavs, with Davis already sidelined by a groin injury sustained in his Dallas debut a little less than a month before Irving went down.

Davis eventually returned, and the Mavericks secured the last spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament a year after representing the West and losing to Boston in five games in the NBA Finals. Dallas won at Sacramento before losing at Memphis with the No. 8 seed in the playoffs at stake. A win there would have kept the Mavs out of the lottery.

There was never much question that Irving would return, and the move was expected when he declined his $43 million player option for 2025-26 and agreed to a $119 million, three-year deal with a player option in the final season.

Irving also signed a three-year deal with a player option the offseason after he joined the Mavs in a trade with Brooklyn. The idea was to pair him with Doncic for deep playoff runs, but Dallas missed the postseason in 2023 before reaching the finals for the first time since 2011 last year.

Davis and Irving both have player options in 2027-28, when Flagg will be entering the third year of his rookie deal.

“We had a great week,” Harrison said. “Obviously, there's a lot of stuff we can't say. But we were able to have initial conversations with a couple of our guys. And we feel good about the outcome of that.”

Flagg is the second No. 1 overall pick in Dallas franchise history. The Mavericks took Mark Aguirre out of DePaul in 1981. Flagg's new coach, Jason Kidd, was the second overall pick by the Mavs in 1994.

Dallas was coming off its expansion season when Aguirre was picked, so it goes without saying the high-scoring guard didn't have much around him. Flagg comes to Texas under much different circumstances.

The Mavericks are in the unique position of letting The Associated Press men's college player of the year find his way surrounded by accomplished veterans. Irving won a championship with LeBron James in Cleveland in 2016, and Davis paired with James to bring the Lakers their 17th title five years ago.

The heavily criticized Harrison has maintained that the immediate goal of a championship didn't change when he traded Doncic. The style of play in trying to win one is what changed, he said, with an emphasis on defense.

Harrison believes Flagg fits the profile of a two-way player. The 18-year-old was supposed to be graduating from high school about now, until he changed the timeline by going to Duke a year early and leading the storied program to the Final Four.

“I think it’s actually awesome that somebody gets to develop on their own time, whatever that is, and we have the support that we can allow him to develop on his own time,” Harrison said. “We’ll be able to win when he’s having good games and also win when not having his best.”

Davis' extensive injury history didn't do much to boost Harrison's belief after the trade that the Mavs were set up to win now and in the future. The lottery win gave Dallas a chance to cultivate its next generational talent less than six months after giving up the one it had.

“I think it's win now,” Harrison said. “It’s also win in the future. Eventually, it’s going to be Cooper’s team. We don’t when that transition will happen. So I think win now and then set yourself up to win in future as well.”

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

Cooper Flagg hugs family members after being selected first overall by the Dallas Mavericks In the first round of the NBA basketball draft, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Cooper Flagg heads for the stage after being selected first overall by the Dallas Mavericks In the first round of the NBA basketball draft, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Cooper Flagg, right, shakes hands with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected first overall by the Dallas Mavericks In the first round of the NBA basketball draft, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

Cooper Flagg, right, poses for a photo with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected first overall by the Dallas Mavericks In the first round of the NBA basketball draft, Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — In the aftermath of a fire inside a Swiss Alpine bar that killed 40 people celebrating the new year, survivors, friends and family members, the region’s top authorities and even Pope Leo have spoken to the public in remarks in French, Italian, German and English, reflecting the tradition of Swiss multilingualism.

Another 119 people were injured in the blaze early Thursday as it ripped through the busy Le Constellation bar at the ski resort of Crans-Montana, authorities said. It was one of the deadliest tragedies in Switzerland’s history.

Investigators said Friday that they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fatal fire when they came too close to the ceiling of the crowded bar.

Here’s a look at what people said in the wake of the disaster:

— “I’m looking everywhere. The body of my son is somewhere,” Laetitia Brodard told reporters Friday in Crans-Montana as she searched for her son, 16-year-old Arthur. “I want to know, where is my child, and be by his side. Wherever that may be, be it in the intensive care unit or the morgue.”

— “We were bringing people out, people were collapsing. We were doing everything we could to save them, we helped as many as we could. We saw people screaming, running,” Marc-Antoine Chavanon, 14, told The Associated Press in Crans-Montana on Friday, recounting how he rushed to the bar to help the injured. “There was one of our friends: She was struggling to get out, she was all burned. You can’t imagine the pain I saw.”

— “It was hard to live through for everyone. Also probably because everyone was asking themselves, ‘Was my child, my cousin, someone from the region at this party?’” Eric Bonvin, general director of the regional hospital in Sion that took in dozens of injured people, told AP on Friday. “This place was very well known as somewhere to celebrate the new year,” Bonvin said. “Also, seeing young people arrive — that’s always traumatic.”

— “I have seen horror, and I don’t know what else would be worse than this,” Gianni Campolo, a Swiss 19-year-old who was in Crans-Montana on vacation and rushed to the bar to help first responders, told France's TF1 television.

—“You will understand that the priority today is truly placed on identification, in order to allow the families to begin their mourning,” Beatrice Pilloud, the Valais region's attorney general, told reporters Friday during a news conference in Sion.

Pope Leo said in a telegram Friday to the bishop of Sion that he " wishes to express his compassion and concern to the relatives of the victims. He prays that the Lord will welcome the deceased into His abode of peace and light, and will sustain the courage of those who suffer in their hearts or in their bodies.”

— “We have numerous accounts of heroic actions, one could say of very strong solidarity in the moment,” Cantonal head of government Mathias Reynard told RTS radio Friday. "In the first minutes it was citizens — and in large part young people — who saved lives with their courage.”

— “Switzerland is a strong country not because it is sheltered from drama, but because it knows how to face them with courage and a spirit of mutual help," Swiss President Guy Parmelin, speaking on his first day in the position that changes hands annually, told reporters Thursday.

People bring flowers near the sealed off Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, where a devastating fire left dead and injured during the New Year's celebrations. (AP Photo/ Antonio Calanni)

A woman holding a stuffed animal, whose daughter is missing, gather with others near the sealed-off Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, where a devastating fire left dead and injured during the New Year's celebrations. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

People light candles near the sealed off Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, where a devastating fire left dead and injured during the New Year's celebrations. (AP Photo/ Antonio Calanni)