Cowboys Can’t Bank on Mavericks’ Lottery Luck After Parsons Trade

Dallas sports fans have been put through the wringer in 2025.

The blockbuster Micah Parsons trade from the Cowboys to the Packers on Thursday came around six months after the shocking deal that sent Luka Dončić from the Mavericks to the Lakers. Parsons is also set to sign a four-year, $188 million contract just weeks after Dončić signed a three-year, $165 million extension with Los Angeles.

While major star trades are fairly common in the NBA and NFL, it’s very rare that stars entering their primes are dealt (and it’s unprecedented for two to have parted from the same city within the same year).

Following the trade in February, Mavericks GM Nico Harrison said the trade set the team up for success “now and in the future.” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had a similar message following Thursday’s trade.

“This gives us a better chance to be a better team than we have been the last few several years since Micah’s been here,” Jones said.

Dallas fans were incensed following the Dončić trade in February, which led to Harrison admitting in April that he was surprised by the amount of support his former star had from local fans. But the disdain from Mavericks fans has somewhat subsided following the NBA draft.

The Mavericks fell out of the playoff picture, and their 1.8% chance at the No. 1 pick manifested in the 2025 NBA draft. They selected 18-year-old Cooper Flagg, the Duke star who is one of the top prospects in recent memory—and could fill the hole Dončić left. (The WNBA’s Dallas Wings also drafted Paige Bueckers with the No. 1 pick in April.) 

Unfortunately for the Cowboys, the NFL draft will not provide them with the same type of opportunity. The NFL does not have a lottery and the draft order is determined solely by team record from the previous season. 

Dallas is not projected as a playoff team, but it is also not expected to be close to the bottom of the standings with competent players on the roster like CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott, who remains the NFL’s highest-paid player by average annual value. 

The Cowboys received two first-round picks from the Packers in the trade, but it’s likely those picks will be near the end of the 2026 and 2027 first rounds, as they add Parsons to a team that won 11 games last year.

It is possible Dallas will find generational talent in the middle or late first-round. Parsons was selected 12th in 2021, with the Cowboys even trading down before taking him. But unless they find themselves at the bottom of the NFL this year, the path to hope won’t be as straightforward as their NBA counterparts.