The winner of the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes is the Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavericks surprisingly won the No. 1 overall pick in Monday’s NBA Draft Lottery in Chicago and will surely use the pick on Flagg. The Duke star excelled as a freshman in his one college season.
With just a 1.8 percent chance of landing the top pick, Dallas jumped 10 spots to become the team with the fourth-longest odds to win the lottery. The Orlando Magic (1.52 percent) in 1993 had the lowest chance, followed by the 2008 Chicago Bulls and the 2014 Cleveland Cavaliers, who won with odds of just 1.7 percent.
Also claiming top-four picks were the San Antonio Spurs (No. 2), Philadelphia 76ers (No. 3) and Charlotte Hornets (No. 4).
The Mavericks will get the chance to draft Flagg just months after the controversial trade of Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. General manager Nico Harrison was frequently criticized for the trade of a generational talent who had carried the team to the 2024 NBA Finals.
Mavericks legend Rolando Blackman represented the team at the lottery, and the former four-time All-Star looked at it as the blessing the organization needed.
“It’s been a rough year as you all know but the important part of the whole thing is we will have a chance to move our franchise forward,” Blackman said on ESPN.
The Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards and Hornets shared the best odds of winning the lottery at 14 percent. The New Orleans Pelicans (12.5 percent) and Philadelphia 76ers (10.5 percent) had the next best odds to land the top spot.
Flagg watched the festivities live and saw the Jazz drop to No. 5 and Wizards fall to No. 6 while the Mavericks rose and were eventually revealed as the winner of the first pick.
Flagg will likely be joining a team coached by Jason Kidd that includes veterans Anthony Davis (obtained in the Doncic deal) and Kyrie Irving (currently recovering from an ACL tear).
“I didn’t try to think about it too much,” Flagg said of which team would land the top pick. “I feel like it’s kind of out of my control. I’m just going through the process like everyone else and enjoying every single moment because you only get to do this once.”
The 6-foot-9 Flagg doesn’t turn 19 until December and is projected to develop into a star early in his career.
Flagg won the Wooden and Naismith awards as the top college player last season. The star forward averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 37 games. He made 52 3-pointers and also had 52 steals and 50 blocked shots.
Flagg would be the first college player selected No. 1 overall since Duke’s Paolo Banchero was chosen first by the Orlando Magic in 2022.
Two years ago, France’s Victor Wembanyama went No. 1 overall to the San Antonio Spurs. Last year, the Atlanta Hawks selected another Frenchman, Zaccharie Risacher.
San Antonio’s rise to No. 2 was a big development as the Spurs have the last two NBA Rookies of the Year — Wembanyama and Stephon Castle — on the roster. The Spurs were in the eighth-best position entering the lottery.
The New Orleans Pelicans (No. 7), Brooklyn Nets (No. 8), Toronto Raptors (No. 9) and Houston Rockets (No. 10) round out the top 10.
Players expected to be selected in the early portion of the NBA draft include the Rutgers duo of forward Ace Bailey and guard Dylan Harper, Texas guard Tre Johnson and Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe.
The NBA Draft is scheduled for June 25-26 at the Barclays Center in New York.
–Field Level Media
