Jason Kidd Apparently Didn't Even Watch The Lottery Because He Was Convinced The Mavs Were Going To Continue To Be Smited By Basketball Gods

Sam Hodde. Getty Images.

While it's annoying that Nico Harrison now gets to profit off his stupidity given that the Mavs won the Lottery and officially Captured The Flagg, I will say I am happy for that fanbase given the fact that the hell they were subjected to is something that no fanbase should ever have to endure. Even as someone who had to deal with that fanbase in the 2024 Finals and generally wanted the worst for them, what they went through this season was a bridge too far. I don't wish that shit on any fanbase outside of Lakers fans, so for them to finally have something positive to rally around is cool.

Given their 1.8% chance at winning the Lottery, I imagine those ping pong balls were a bit of a surprise. As a fan you watch the Lottery because

A) It was right before the next playoff game

B) We all wanted to see where Flagg ended up

but I imagine no Mavs fan thought they would be the last team standing, or even really make it into the top 4. I say that because when you hear Jason Kidd tell his Lottery Night story, not even he could imagine something like this was possible

Something tells me that's how everyone felt. Given all the bad karma around the Mavs season ever since Nico Harrison decided to be a basketball terrorist, logic told you that the Basketball Gods would not stop making them pay for it when it came to the Lottery. Little did JKidd know that Adam Silver was already pulling the strings behind the scenes ever since he first learned about the Luka trade back in February. 

Sidenote: Did anyone else feel like it was kind of weird how hard all these media outlets pushed back on the idea of it being rigged? Everywhere you looked, it felt like the league was pushing out their cronies to get that narrative out there, because even they knew the perception was going to be a disaster. Part of me feels like you only do that if you're guilty of something, but what do I know.

I would have loved to see the look on Kidd's face when he realized that no, whoever was texting him wasn't just accidentally forgetting to add a "1" before the number of their position, and that the Mavs did, in fact, win the Lottery. We got Nico's reaction, but fuck that guy

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That's a guy that's happy he can now play off his decision making as smart. Zero chance he's actually happy for the Mavs part of this result.

But JKidd is the one who is going to have to make things work on the court, and certainly things are a whole lot easier when you're adding this kind of talent to the mix

While there's still some roster questions for the Mavs to figure out now that their frontcourt is pretty logjammed, whatever. They'll ship out Gafford (who wants an extension) or something along those lines and be fine. Maybe Cooper proves he can play a little bit at the 3 spot if he can show he's able to guard some quicker/smaller wings even though his natural position might be more of a 4. 

There's just something I find funny about being a team in the Lottery, having a generational prospect on the table to potentially join your team, and you don't even watch because you're convinced the Basketball Gods are going to continue to smite you for Nico Harrison being a bozo. Who could blame Kidd for thinking that considering what happened to the Mavs this year, but I guess he wasn't aware of the backroom dealings that were clearly going on.

Or, if you're into conspiracies, this entire story is bullshit and Kidd knew the whole time, this is just how the league is operating to continue pushing this narrative that everything was on the level. I'll let you be the judge as to which it is.