Louisville guard Mikel Brown Jr. (0) shoots after getting past SMU forward Corey Washington (3) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Dallas, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.
Tony Gutierrez/AP
Far be it for me to overstate matters or to unnecessarily paraphrase a famous 50-year-old saying about Bruce Springsteen, but….
I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE OF MAVERICKS BASKETBALL AND HIS NAME IS MIKEL BROWN JR.
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There was about a 1-in-15 chance Sunday afternoon that the Dallas Mavericks would be awarded the top pick in the June draft for the second year in a row. It did not happen. There was about a 1-in-3 chance they would get the eighth pick and a similar 1-in-3 chance they would gain the ninth pick, and the latter is what happened when the Chicago Bulls jumped up five spots into the top four.
Most years you would turn to another page, click on a different story if your NBA team of choice was awarded the ninth pick, but the 2026 draft is no ordinary draft. In case you missed the entire college season, the freshman class was filled with potential No. 1 overall picks. The talent was so deep that on at least two occasions, someone who is paid to talk about these things — it was former Mav Jamal Mashburn in one case — stated that Mavs rookie Cooper Flagg would either go sixth or wouldn’t make the top six of this particular draft.
While that statement was beyond ludicrous, there are plenty of talented players for lottery teams to dream about, examine and study the next six weeks. On ABC’s telecast, analyst Bobby Marks called this the best draft since 1996. Now don’t let the fact that the Mavs got Samaki Walker with the ninth pick in that draft spoil your day or make you question Mr. Marks’ memory. If you go a little deeper in 1996, a high schooler named Kobe Bryant was picked 13th and two players who would be future Mavericks —Peja Stojakovic and Steve Nash — were selected 14th and 15th.
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I doubt this draft will produce two future MVPs in the teens, but you never know about these things.
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In any case, Jay Bilas’ top 10 had Mikel Brown Jr. at No. 8, while a Yahoo mock draft placed him outside the top 10. All I can tell you is that on Feb. 17, I was seated courtside at Moody Coliseum where SMU played one of its best games of the season, defeating a ranked Louisville team 95-85.
Brown, without ball-hogging or going out of his way to make himself the story, led Louisville with 29 points, over 60% shooting, 50% 3-point shooting, five rebounds and four assists. This came on the heels of Brown having put up 45 against North Carolina State and another 29 against Baylor. A point guard with good long-range shooting skills who used his left hand like a pro, driving against the Mustangs, Brown checks all the boxes but one, which is why he might be available when Dallas picks.
He didn’t play in March. Brown played just three more games after the SMU visit, didn’t score 25 again, and missed the ACC and NCAA tournaments with a back injury.
I recognize that new president Masai Ujiri and new GM Mike Schmitz — a former ESPN draft analyst himself — were hired for a reason, so they will do their exhaustive study along with Mavericks scouts before announcing their pick on the night of June 23.
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It’s a big one because it’s a top 10 pick in a loaded draft, and it’s a big one because the Mavericks’ past regime traded most of their first-round capital for the foreseeable future. I’m just here to offer my humble guidance because this is a long-haul rebuild, even if the excitement over Flagg and a high pick this year makes fans feel otherwise.
Dallas was 26-56 with Flagg playing 70 of a possible 82 games. Without question, next month’s first-round pick should be a good player who helps and probably starts for Dallas. But it’s highly unlikely the team will double up on Rookie of the Year honors.
Meanwhile, Western Conference rivals Utah, Sacramento, Memphis and even the LA Clippers will pick potential marquee players in front of Dallas.
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Beyond that, it’s a strange new world that Ujiri and the Mavs will be navigating starting in October. There won’t be a back-to-back with the Jazz, trying to lose games and succeeding (as happened here Jan. 15-17) with the lottery rules no longer favoring those at the bottom of the standings. That’s not to say the Mavericks could not beat a team like Utah back to back, only that the Jazz won’t be seeking victory through defeat as more than a half dozen teams were doing this past season.
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Maybe Brown’s back will make him too high-risk at No. 9. Maybe a guard like Arizona’s Brayden Burries, who played 71 minutes in the Final Four and shot 39 percent from 3-point range this season, will be the target instead.
The draft pick — significant as it can be — is the easy part. It’s the rest of the rebuild through free agency and, more likely, through trades that will be Ujiri’s greatest challenge in Dallas.