Duke Blue Devils basketball phenom Cooper Flagg’s arrival puts Mavs’ P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford on trade block

Duke Blue Devils basketball phenom Cooper Flagg is changing the Dallas Mavericks’ plans moving forward. The Mavs landing the No.1 overall pick at the NBA draft lottery, despite a 1.8% chance of winning it, opens up multiple avenues moving forward.

Nico Harrison isn’t going to deal Flagg elsewhere, but from the sounds of it, P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford are set to hit the trade block.

“Harrison can move some of those pieces around to find a little more ballhandling, though. Washington and Gafford, in particular, can be included in trade talks. The Mavericks also have two future first-round picks and four pick swaps to play with this summer,” The Ringer’s Michael Pina wrote.

As Pina pointed out, trading Anthony Davis this offseason could be on the table as well.

“The front office could also go the other way and start making decisions that are in Flagg’s best interest. That means trading Davis for a whole bunch of stuff, being bad in 2025-26, and drafting another blue-chip prospect. Both paths make sense,” Pina wrote.

Kyrie Irving’s ACL tear complicates everything. If he were healthy, Dallas would have a better chance of understanding what they have. Without him, as the roster currently stands, there are not enough resources to add a legitimate point guard.

Trading Washington and Gafford away gives them a chance to acquire a fill-in until Irving recovers. Their salaries combined approach $30 million. That gets you a starter in today’s marketplace.

What Harrison does next is anyone’s guess, as the Luka Doncic trade in February proved.