Jake Kemp

2 days ago | dmagazine.com | Jake Kemp |Mike Piellucci

I’m not sure how long this will last, but as of right now, it is still hard for me to make much sense of anything the Mavericks do with their roster. Nico Harrison traded away the team’s future for a shorter, and in his mind, stronger run at a championship. Of course, he was subsequently gifted a new future by lottery luck that will result in the Mavericks selecting phenom Cooper Flagg with the first pick in tonight’s draft.

2 weeks ago | dmagazine.com | Jake Kemp |Mike Piellucci

You’ve seen these sorts of articles. Lottery winners who lost it all! We’re all familiar with these cautionary tales: a struggling individual gets lucky, but the sudden riches exacerbate some previous underlying issues, leaving the “winner” worse off than before. We swear it could never be us, yet this is a tale as old as time. Ample resources can certainly help one live well, but without a plan, those resources can vanish. The Mavericks won the lottery.

3 weeks ago | dmagazine.com | Jake Kemp |Mike Piellucci

When Jerry Jones and the Cowboys announced to the world that their tireless, exhaustive coaching search had landed on Brian Schottenheimer, most of the sports world laughed. The in-house offensive coordinator who hadn’t been top-of-mind in head coach searches for 15 years? The coordinator who had listened to more calls than he had made? Coaching the biggest football team on the planet?

1 month ago | dmagazine.com | Jake Kemp |Mike Piellucci

We are two weeks removed from White Manna From Heaven falling upon the Mavericks and general manager Nico Harrison. I still can’t believe it, and probably won’t until the first play of the first game when coach Jason Kidd calls something that ends with a Flagg dunk. (Dennis Smith Jr.—good dude—started his career in the same fashion, so don’t overreact.) No matter where you stand in regards to the franchise, we have all been on a perspective-altering, trauma-inducing journey.

1 month ago | dmagazine.com | Jake Kemp |Mike Piellucci

The Mavericks’ award-winning drama that had critics wondering, “How can this show possibly have another season in it?” has been renewed. The latest: after failing to move up in the draft lottery, like ever, the Mavericks and their 1.8 percent ticket to the top of the NBA draft cashed in. Nico Harrison has won the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes. Perhaps that storyline bothers you, because while there are plenty of winners here, Harrison is at the top of the list.