Three years ago, almost to the day, a ragtag collection of end-of-roster Mavericks nearly torpedoed Dallas’s lottery dreams by almost winning a game no one in the front office wanted to win against these same Chicago Bulls. Theo Pinson, McKinley Wright, AJ Lawson — names that barely register now — chucked four three-pointers in the final 23 seconds that could have changed everything. They all missed. The lottery gods were merciful. The Mavs drafting Lively of eventually happened. The full story of that 2023 game is worth a read if you haven’t seen it.

Tonight the wheel turns all the way around. The Bulls (31-50) visit American Airlines Center for the final game of the 2025-26 Dallas Mavericks season, and the hot potato is back on the stove. Dallas sits tied with Memphis at 25-56 for the sixth-best lottery odds—8.2% at number one, 34.4% top-four. The Grizzlies play Houston tonight as 17-point underdogs on a seven-game losing streak. They are almost certainly losing that game, which means Dallas needs to lose this one to avoid falling behind Memphis in the standings. Meanwhile, Chicago, whose first-round pick belongs to Portland, would also prefer not to win. Two teams, one basketball, zero interest in the outcome…at least not the outcome normally associated with competitive games in the NBA.

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Except Cooper Flagg doesn’t care about any of that. Flagg has one closing argument left in the Rookie of the Year race against his former Duke teammate Kon Knueppel, and he’s going to make it loudly, in front of the home crowd, on the last night of his rookie season.

Let’s scan the lines in search of value.

🏀 Fixture: Chicago Bulls (31-50) @ Dallas Mavericks (25-56) 📍 American Airlines Center — Dallas, TX 🕖 7:40 PM CST, Sunday, April 12, 2026 📺 KFAA Channel 29 / MavsTV

📊 DraftKings Snapshot (as of 1:08 AM CST) Spread: DAL -6.5 (-112) | CHI +6.5 (-108) Total: 246.5 (O -108 / U -112) Moneyline: DAL -285 | CHI +230

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📉 Game Side Lean: Dallas -6.5

The Bulls are missing Giddey, Buzelis, Okoro, Yabusele, and a handful of others. What’s left is a skeleton crew playing out the string. Dallas, despite its own depleted roster, is at home and has enough pride — and enough of a Flagg performance incoming — to cover a modest number against a team this shorthanded. Jason Kidd pulled his starters in a five-point game on Wednesday, yes. But tonight is different. Tonight is the last home game, the last crowd, the last chance to send the fans home with something to hold onto until October. Dallas covers.

🔮 Total Lean: Under 246.5

Both teams are missing significant rotation pieces. Neither coaching staff is going to push pace or pressure the other into an up-and-down track meet. This figures to be a halfcourt game decided by who wants to lose more gracefully — which, ironically, means fewer possessions, slower pace, and a final score that lands somewhere in the low 110s. Under 246.5 has room to breathe.

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🎯 Player Props We Like

Cooper Flagg Over 32.5 Points (-108) Flagg scored 33 against San Antonio on Friday on 25 shots and the ROY race is genuinely undecided. He has 51, 49, and 45 already on his resume this season. Tonight is a home finale, a statement game, a closing argument against a Bulls defense that just got picked apart by Washington’s end-of-roster guys. The Mavericks will feed him. He will go off. The number is actually conservative given what he’s capable of on nights like this. Back him without hesitation.

💡 Summary: Dallas -6.5 at home in the season finale against a Bulls team with nobody left standing. Under 246.5 for a slow, deliberate hot potato game where nobody really wants the ball. Flagg over 32.5 because this is his night and everyone in the building knows it. Three picks, one last ride. Go Mavs.