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Depending on your investment in the NBA Draft Lottery — which, you’re here on this page, so — we’ve entered a very tense time in the Dallas Mavericks’ season. Every season there is hand-wringing about the state of tanking in the league. So much so that we’re getting mixed rumors of NBA officials attending player MRIs just to verify that the player is, in fact, injured.
If you’re catching up, Friday’s were reserved for scanning the media landscape in our NBA Power Rankings Watch. Now, the Mavericks are more focused on moving down than up, so last week we shifted our sights to the lottery. Ten or more teams are currently in a fight for their life, jockeying for position to have greater odds in the lottery pull for one of the deepest draft classes in recent years. Draft order will be determined May 10. And until the end of the Mavericks’ season on April 12, we’ll be keeping a close eye on this board for the final 24 games. Cooper Flagg’s future running mate is on the way.
Lottery standings
Last week we identified that Mavericks fans should watch closely on results from the Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies, the two teams clustered with Dallas in the tank standings. We’re now keeping casual watch on the New Orleans Pelicans (three game win streak) and the Chicago Bulls (11 [ELEVEN] game losing streak) as well. Don’t be surprised if the last six weeks of the season groups these teams closer together.
For now, no real shuffling to the standings themselves. The Mavericks went 2-2 last week, with the team facing several other lottery bound opponents there will be plenty of roster mischief in the days ahead. The Jazz went 0-3, creating some space between themselves and Dallas. The Grizzlies went 1-3, at one point tying the Mavericks by record. For all these teams, it might be worth taking into account remaining schedule strength: Mavericks (3rd toughest remaining schedule), Grizzlies (7th), Jazz (12th), Bulls (14th), Pelicans (19th).
Weekly schedule
Until New Orleans falls further back or Chicago “jumps” forward, we’re focus in on the three teams from last week. You’ll notice some very key head-to-head matchups, mixed with some games against teams in the top four of the lottery standings. A pretty key week:
- Dallas Mavericks: vs. Memphis Grizzlies, vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, @ Charlotte Hornets, @ Orlando Magic
- Utah Jazz: vs. New Orleans Pelicans, vs. Denver Nuggets, @ Philadelphia 76ers, @ Washington Wizards
- Memphis Grizzlies: @ Dallas Mavericks, @ Indiana Pacers, @ Minnesota Timberwolves, vs. Portland Trail Blazers
One magic spin
Each week we’ll take one spin around the block at tankathon.com and see where the chips fall. As last week brought one large swing of chaos, this week’s chaos was of a different sort. Three teams, including the Mavericks, jumped into the top four of the draft.
You can’t ask for much more from the lottery in this moment.
