Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison has likely been the most embattled person in the NBA since his deeply unpopular trade of Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in early February.

Time will tell whether Harrison and the Mavericks front office are ultimately vindicated for the move, which brought back a relatively light return given Doncic's status as one of the league's most reliable scorers: Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and the Lakers' 2029 first-round pick. If the move winds up aging well, it will be in large part due to the events of Monday night.

Despite owning just a 1.8% chance of winning the NBA draft lottery and the rights to draft Duke superstar Cooper Flagg at the top of the upcoming 2025 draft, the Mavericks did just that, getting some serious luck and the chance to truly reset their franchise at the exact right time.

Harrison was well aware of the stakes. Dallas shared video from a conference room where he and other members of franchise leadership watched the proceedings, and Harrison—front and center in the video below—was the first person out of his seat as the entire room exploded in sheet jubilation.

Fists were pumped, shirts and towels were raucously waved, and chairs were toppled with reckless abandon. Despite entering the night with some of the worst odds to land the top pick, the Mavericks will now have the chance to pair Flagg with established stars like Davis and Kyrie Irving.

If they can stay healthy—and that is a big if for Davis and Irving, as made clear by how this Dallas season played out after the trade—and that could be a pretty fearsome core, built to win now and potentially in the future if Flagg pans out as a superstar.

The Doncic trade may still ultimately look terrible, but Harrison certainly looks like an executive who just received a new lease on life in the moments after the lottery news dropped.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Nico Harrison, Mavericks Brass Absolutely Lost It When Dallas Won No. 1 Pick in NBA Draft.

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