NBA Draft: Are Cooper Flagg's Mavs Rebuilding or Trying to Win Now?

The Dallas Mavericks are five days from the draft, and the most important offseason in recent franchise history is already underway. The question hanging over everything is not a small one. Are the Mavericks rebuilding, or are they trying to compete right now?

The honest answer is that nobody outside the Mavericks’ war room knows yet, including many of the people closest to the situation. FanDuel currently has Dallas at +20000 to win the 2026-27 championship, tied with the Washington Wizards for the fifth-longest odds in the league. The market is priced for another developmental year. But the market was set before the draft, before free agency and before any of the trades Dallas is actively pursuing. Those odds are a starting point, not a verdict.

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The rebuild argument starts with what Dallas does not have. The Mavericks finished 26-56 last season, do not own their own first-round pick until 2031 and have a roster in active flux, with Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford all openly available in trade discussions. A franchise actively shopping multiple veterans is not a roster built to compete immediately, regardless of what the front office says publicly about its timeline.

The win-now argument starts with Cooper Flagg. Bleacher Report’s post-Finals power rankings noted that if Flagg takes even a small step forward in his second season, Kyrie Irving returns to 90% of his pre-injury form and Dereck Lively II stays healthy, Dallas becomes a significantly tougher team night to night than it was last season.

Spotrac’s offseason preview went further, suggesting the right moves this summer put the Mavericks back into playoff contention even in a deep Western Conference. Flagg averaged 21 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists as a teenager on a 26-win team. The sky is the limit for Flagg's next step.

READ MORE:Mavs Reveal Major Kyrie Irving Trade Decision; Controversial Move?

Marc Stein reported last week that the Mavericks have been telling teams Irving is not available. Ujiri has said publicly he wants to see Irving and Flagg share the floor. That message is consistent with a front office that does not view this as a full rebuild. It is consistent with a front office that sees next season as the first real test of what it is building rather than another year of managed losing.

The draft on June 23 is the first signal. The free agency period that opens July 1 is the second. The coaching hire, still pending, is the third. Six days out, the crossroads is real, and the direction Dallas chooses this summer will define where this franchise stands in 2028.