The NBA’s competitive landscape hung in the balance during a potential lottery apocalypse on Monday night. The Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs found themselves as the last two teams standing for the rights to Cooper Flagg on the TV broadcast.

The San Antonio Spurs will have their pick of the litter in the 2025 NBA Draft. Barring the unforeseen, the Dallas Mavericks will select consensus number one pick Cooper Flagg, leaving plenty of talent--and options--for the Spurs.

The Chicago Bulls, like Atlanta, are nowhere near close enough to meaningful contention to justify moving a back-end-of-the-lottery pick for a role player. Instead, they should be taking as many bites at the draft apple as possible to see who jells with a budding core that includes Josh Giddey, Matas Buzelis and Coby White.