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A Look Ahead To The NBA Lottery

There’s one team that any of Duke’s players would be lucky to hit now.

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NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament-East Regional-Michigan State vs Duke
Mar 31, 2019; Washington, DC, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Javin DeLaurier (12) shoots the ball against Michigan State Spartans forward Xavier Tillman (23) during the second half in the championship game of the east regional of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Capital One Arena. 
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

It’s a bit early to get into draft scenarios and we’re not really going to do that. At best the lottery is a crap shoot and the order won’t be known for some time.

However, what is clear to us is that some of those teams are in a better situation than the rest.

The three teams with the best situations are Boston, L.A. and Dallas.

Boston would be an amazing coup for any Duke player. He’d be dropped into a fairly stable, winning situation with a great coach and support structure.

L.A. would mean being tutored by LeBron James. He’s one of the greatest players of all time so that has a serious upside and if Zion Williamson were to end up there he’d be in a phenomenal situation and able to capitalize on his fame and marketability in a huge way.

But Dallas is more likely to move up than either and the Mavericks have Luka Doncic and will soon have a presumably healthy Kristaps Porzingis.

If you put Williamson on that team it’s immediately terrifying because Doncic is a legitimate prodigy and they’ll feed off of each other. Having a talented young big man is good too. They also have a long-term project in Kostas Antetokounmpo, younger brother of the Greek Freak.

Any way you look at it, it would be an intriguing group of talent and a very young one too.

The odds are against Dallas moving up to #1 though so imagine this group with RJ Barrett or Cam Reddish. And frankly, their point guard play could use an upgrade so it might be a good fit for Tre Jones.

Whoever the Mavs take has a chance to join a potentially great team as it rises. Keep an eye on them.

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