WAKE UP! on ETBLITZ | Mavericks win top pick in NBA Draft; oddsmakers already down on Cowboys; Overton baseball Thursday @ Hallsville, and more
EDITOR’S NOTE: Wake Up! on ETBlitz each morning is in its second full week; it’s one of the most widely-read items on the website. It’s a good way to catch up on what you missed, and to find out what’s happening as timely as we can bring it to you. The good folks at Cozy Coffee Station – Oscar and Ashley Cavazos and their staffs in both Kilgore and Gilmer – sponsor Wake Up! every day, and we’re beyond excited to have them as an advertising partner, mainly because we love their products! Check out their menu on the website (Home | Cozy Coffee Station), see what they feature on Instagram and Facebook, and go see ‘em at 110 Midtown Plaza in Kilgore, or 755 U.S. Highway 271 in Gilmer. You can even hang out, make it a meet-up, play a game or two while enjoying about any kind of coffee, tea, soda or milkshake imaginable!
Mavericks win NBA Draft lottery
If you’re not an NBA fan, you may have no idea what the NBA Draft Lottery is.
Here’s what happens, seriously.
Rather than give the No. 1 pick in the draft every year to the team with the worst record, and base the draft order on worst-to-best, the NBA actually takes the teams who missed the playoffs, gives them a certain number of ping-pong balls (seriously) in a machine, and draws out the ping-pong balls to set the top dozen or so picks.
The team that had the worst record for the season has the most chance at getting the No. 1 pick, they say, with the team that missed the playoffs with the best record supposedly having the worst.
Yet from time to time, those little balls enjoy messing with people, and some team that statistically shouldn’t get a pick in the top five, even, will wind up with the No. 1 overall pick.
That happened Monday night in Chicago, when – in selecting the picks for next month’s draft – the Dallas Mavericks, of all teams, came out on top. The Mavericks recently lost Luka Doncic in an (awful, sorry, personal opinion there) trade to the L.A. Lakers, and will most likely select Duke superstar Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 pick in June.
Some fans were pretty upset. And it was a shocker.
For his part, Flagg, who was on hand for the lottery, isn’t even 19 years old! He recently completed his freshman season for the Blue Devils, what will be his only season there. Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists a game over 37 games for Duke in 2024-25 – he had 52 steals, blocked 50 shots and hit 52 shots from three-point range.
He won both the Naismith and Wooden Awards as the nation’s best college basketball player. And now, unless the Mavericks’ ownership and decision-makers are absent on the day of the draft, or get hit by a bread truck on the way to the event, Flagg will call the Metroplex his home – and likely win a TON of basketball games.
Now, if you’re a conspiracy theorist, there’s this: according to the NBA’s own experts, the Mavericks had a 1.8 percent chance of getting that No. 1 pick. And they just happened to win it when Dallas fans were disgruntled and making it WELL-KNOWN they were disgruntled about losing Doncic to the Lakers
Rounding out the top four picks in the draft next month: at No. 2 is the San Antonio Spurs; the Philadelphia 76ers will draft third; and the Charlott Hornets, fourth.
Rangerette tryouts approaching
If you’re reading this and you are a Rangerette hopeful for this very year, this isn’t a news flash.
Tryouts are June 11-14 for the 86th line.
We had what we hope was a helpful, informative story yesterday (RANGERETTE TRYOUTS JUNE 11-14 | 86th line to be set; final intensive for hopefuls is Sunday), and when it’s time for the reveal, we’ll have the announcement. Here’s wishing all hopefuls good luck, or to break a leg, or whatever is the appropriate wish for each one, and we’ll all know on June 14.
It’s not even September and the Cowboys are already underdogs
The National Football League announced Monday that the opener, the very first game, of the 2025 season will feature defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia hosting none other than NFC East rival Dallas, on Thursday, Sept. 4.
And true to form, the folks in Las Vegas who make the odds for just about everything now, have installed Philadelphia as a seven-point (touchdown) favorite.
You know, on May 12.
In fact, they took it even a step farther.
According to DraftKings:
- The over-under (total points scored combined for Philly and the Cowboys) in the game is 46 ½.
- Eagles running back Saquon Barkley is the favorite to score the first touchdown, with quarterback Jalen Hurts is the second-favorite. By the way, trivia about the Hurts family: Jalen’s older brother, Averion Hurts Jr., played right here in East Texas for the Kilgore College Rangers.
- DraftKings lists the Eagles as the favorite to win the Super Bowl again, and to win the NFC East.
The league will release its entire 2025 schedule for all 32 teams on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern, 7 right here in East Texas time.
Overton baseball playoff altered
If you’re an Overton High School fan, you probably saw this yesterday, maybe even right here on this very site, or on our social media. But the Mustangs’ UIL Class 2A-Division II baseball playoff series against Gary is now to be played at Hallsville High School
Our story from Monday: OVERTON SERIES CHANGES | Site of baseball playoff now Hallsville High.
Read the story for more, but here’s the series: it’s a best-of-three format (the team that wins two games takes the series). Game one is Thursday at 6:30 p.m., game two is Friday at 5, and if a game three is needed to decide things, it’ll start 30 minutes after game two.
Good luck, Mustangs – make us all proud.