Dallas could grab a potential steal in Isaiah Evans, a dynamic Duke wing whose elite perimeter shooting and floor-spacing ability promise to complement centerpiece Cooper Flagg.
The Dallas Mavericks may have a lottery pick in the upcoming 2026 NBA Draft, but that does not mean they could not also get someone that could contribute in a big way at the end of the first round.
And that is exactly what CBS Sports' latest mock draft has them getting with the 30th overall pick.
Isaac Trotter projects the Mavericks to select Duke wing Isaiah Evans with one of the final picks of the first round, giving Dallas a chance to add a player whose skill set fits very well alongside Cooper Flagg and the rest of the team's young core.
"Big shooters are always coveted, especially for a Dallas braintrust that needs to make life easier for Cooper Flagg," Trotter writes. "Evans provides that 6-foot-6, 180-pound movement shooter who could fill some of Klay Thompson's minutes in the not-so-distant future."
Finding immediate contributors late in the first round is never easy, but Evans offers a trait that NBA teams are always searching for: elite perimeter shooting. The Duke wing emerged as one of the Blue Devils' top offensive weapons during his sophomore season, which funnily enough, happened because Flagg left Duke.
As a result, one or two players had to pick up the scoring load he left behind, and Evans was the main guy to do that.
He averaged 15 points per game in his second season with the Blue Devils, and he did so while shooting 43 percent from the field and 36 percent from beyond the arc.
For Dallas, that skill alone makes the fit easy to understand.
The Mavericks already have a franchise centerpiece in Flagg, and one of the front office’s biggest priorities moving forward will be surrounding him with floor spacers who can punish defenses for collapsing into the paint. Evans has proven he can do exactly that.
What makes Evans especially interesting is that he is no longer viewed as just a shooter. Evaluators have praised the progress he made throughout the 2025-26 season, particularly as a player capable of attacking closeouts and finishing at the rim. His defensive growth also helped strengthen his draft stock and pushed him firmly into first-round conversations.
There are certainly areas for improvement. His frame remains relatively thin, and some scouts still want to see more creation ability with the ball in his hands. But those are far more manageable concerns when a player already possesses a premium NBA skill.
For a team looking to build around their new centerpiece, landing a prospect with Evans’ shooting upside at the end of the first round would be a strong outcome.
