Mavericks Win Draft Lottery, Cooper Flagg

Zak Drapeau
7 hours ago
3 min read

by Zak Drapeau 5/13/25 FansOnlySportz

What Are the Odds?

With just a 1.8% chance of winning the #1 pick at the start of last night and the 11th best odds in the league, the Dallas Mavericks have just won the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes.

The Draft Lottery Odds for the #1 pick were as follows:

1. Jazz - 14%

2. Wizards - 14%

3. Hornets - 14%

4. Pelicans - 12.5%

5. 76ers - 10.5%

6. Nets - 9%

7. Raptors - 7.5%

8. Spurs - 6%

9. Rockets - 3.8%

10. Blazers - 3.8%

11. Mavericks - 1.8%

12. Bulls - 1.8%

13. Hawks - .8%

14. Spurs - .8%

The 2025 Mavericks had the 3rd longest odds of any team EVER to win the #1 pick through the lottery, behind only the 1993 Magic, (1.52%) and 2008 Bulls, (1.7%).

Cooper Flagg

The Duke Forward has been the consensus #1 pick for the entire year and is already linked to the Mavericks. The Naismith Player of the Year as a Freshman, Flagg's per-game averages were19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists with 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game as well.

Flagg is a 6'9" Small Forward who is a complete scorer. His shooting splits were 48.1/38.5/84 at Duke and he led the Blue Devils to the Final Four. In fact, in the March Tournament, Flagg would average 21 points, 7.6 rebounds and 5 assists per game while shooting 44.2%, a whopping 50% from 3 and over 90% from the stripe.

Future Predictions

The Mavericks are assumed to come into next season with a lineup of:

PG: Kyrie Irving

SG: Klay Thompson

SF: Cooper Flagg

PF: PJ Washington

C: Dereck Lively II

That's a pretty good lineup guys! The team amassed a 39-43 record last season and should not doubt be better with Flagg and a full offseason to acclimate Anthony Davis to the team.

Speaking of Anthony Davis...

You may be asking if the Mavericks-Lakers trade that made headlines this season and swapped Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis amongst picks had anything to do with the lottery. Well that question might be a bit more nuanced than a straight answer and we can't answer that without asking a serious question first.

Is the NBA Rigged?

Coincidence means Conspiracy

Nowadays anytime there is a coincidence in any walk of life you will have people claiming a conspiracy and that's just not the case most of the time. I want to go on the record saying I DON'T believe the NBA is rigged, but even I have to say this whole season for the Mavericks seems even fishier.

It all started when reports came out of a massive drop in viewership for the NBA of over 19% in October. Putting on our "tin foil hats", it was fishy when one of the most media circus trades of all time happened just 2 months later involving the NBA's marquee franchise, the Los Angeles Lakers.

The trade had been given nationwide negative reviews to the Mavericks who were seen to have traded away their Franchise Superstar and Top-5 NBA talent for a not-worthy trade haul in return. The Mavericks and General Manger Nico Harrison were given such bad press that Mavericks games were starting to lose a lot of their crowd and fans were not shy on voicing their frustrations.

Cut to the Draft Lottery 3 months later and the team that traded away their Superstar to the Lakers then would make history as earning the #1 pick in the Draft Lottery despite having the 11th best odds in the league... ya I can see why people think the NBA is rigged.

At the end of the day I don't believe it is... But I do believe the Mavericks and ESPECIALLY Nico Harrison are chuckling behind closed doors looking ahead to next year.