The NBA Draft order is set, and every story will be about the Mavericks “winning” the lottery. That almost certainly means Duke star Cooper Flagg ends up in Dallas just a few months after the Mavs did the NBA a solid by trading Luka Doncic to the Lakers. Pretty hilarious how the league just doesn’t care about blatant rigging, right?

The Spurs were also awarded the 2nd overall pick, which puts them in prime territory to be in the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes. The Spurs had a 6% chance to win the top pick, but the Mavs had less than a 2% chance… All you can do is laugh.

Let’s get to the Hawks, though! While Atlanta’s 14th overall pick is heading to San Antonio because of the Dejounte Murray trade, Sacramento’s 13th pick will be the Hawks.

This was a best case scenario for the Hawks. Sacramento’s first-round pick was top-12 protected. So had it been any better, it wouldn’t have conveyed. The Hawks acquired the pick from the Kings in the trade that sent Kevin Huerter to Sacramento, which is now a deal that we can declare a win for Atlanta.

Whoever takes over as President of Basketball Operations should have ample resources to turn the Hawks into a playoff-caliber team. They have an assortment of young, exciting pieces along with two first-round picks in this year’s draft. Atlanta also owns the Lakers first-round selection after acquiring it in the trade that sent Dejounte Murray to New Orleans.

How the Hawks approach this offseason will be intriguing. They could use their young pieces and picks to take a big swing, hoping to finally pair Trae Young with another superstar, or they could run it back with a healthy Jalen Johnson and see if the internal developments are enough to take the next step into the contender tier. If the NBA playoffs have taught us anything, the Eastern Conference is wide open.

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Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire