Life is filled with chances. Chances to fail, to succeed, to redefine one’s future. Most of the time, hard work will do the job.
Or, you could take a gamble with luck, just like the Dallas Mavericks did in the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery.
Last year’s draft class was lackluster at best. Rookie of the year Stephon Castle did leave his mark on the Spurs, and top two picks, Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr, have shown flashes of their respective potentials. But being sandwiched between the 2023 draft class headed by Victor Wembanyama and the current draft class headed by Cooper Flagg, teams were not as concerned for their picks last year.
Fast forward to Monday, May 12th, 2025. NBA fans all over the world couldn’t wait to discover the destination of 6′ 9″ Duke forward Cooper Flagg. As the Spurs, Hawks, and Bulls rolled the 14th, 13th, and 12th picks, respectively, nobody was surprised considering the lottery odds. That all took a full u-turn when the Blazers received the 11th pick. Given the circumstances, that pushed the Dallas Mavericks all the way up to the top 4 in the lottery. Fans gasped as they could only imagine what Cooper Flagg would mean for such a team. Slowly, the other teams fell off the board, leaving the Hornets, Sixers, Spurs, and Mavericks left in the top 4, a shock to say the least.
Cooper Flagg would have looked very intriguing on any of these teams. The Hornets are a developing team with no lack of talent in LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. The Sixers only fell to the lottery due to injuries, still holding onto Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid. The Spurs have the future face of the league in Wembanyama and guard depth in Castle and Fox. But as NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum flipped the 2nd pick card that belonged to the Spurs, it seemed like time stopped. Fans could not grapple with the fact that the Mavericks, out of all teams, had managed to stand on top of a generational draft class. This was not just because of the ridiculous 1.8% chance of the occurrence, but also the entire dynamic of the Dallas organization.
When the Mavericks traded superstar guard Luka Dončić in blockbuster fashion last February, the team’s fans lost their minds, and rightfully so. To this day, general manager Nico Harrison has received hate like no other for parting ways with the core of the team. For Harrison, nothing seemed to be going right. Fans were beyond flustered, Anthony Davis got injured on his Mavericks debut night, and Kyrie’s torn ACL ripped morales, yet Nico Harrison emphasized viewers to believe in the process. Defense wins championships, as he says.
It was virtually impossible to predict this outcome, but putting the probability aspect aside, this means so much for the league, both bad and good. The NBA has now felt a wave of suspicion from viewers who believe that the Mavericks receiving the first draft pick is indisputable proof for the league’s corruption. Although representatives repeatedly emphasize the impossibility of any rigged results during the lottery process, the league is nonetheless under fire amidst questions surrounding its ratings. Even worse for the league, the Western Conference is set to show further dominance over its Eastern counterpart now that thirteen out of the fifteen Western teams are true contenders for only eight playoff spots next season. And with Giannis Antetokounmpo seeming to fit perfectly with the Spurs, it could get even worse.
On the flip side, the Mavericks are the most victorious of winners. Not only did they get the first pick with the fourth worst odds in NBA lottery drawing history, Mavericks fans have something to be excited about now. News has recently reported that the team indeed plans to utilize the pick and not trade it. Regardless of the injury status and fit in Dallas, such a generational and versatile talent in Flagg is nothing to sneeze at (although fans continue to argue that Cooper Flagg is no Luka Dončić).
Finally, this draft taught some teams a serious lesson. The Wizards and Jazz, each of whom executed the term “tanking” to mere perfection, drastically fell to the 6th and 5th picks, respectively. With several teams at the beginning of the season already knowing the impact that Flagg could have on any team’s trajectory, they decided to purposely lose games to increase their odds. Perhaps this is a lesson that losing is not always the best option. What a shocker.
