The Dallas Mavericks have won the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes.
The Mavericks earned the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery on Monday night in Chicago. While they can certainly go a different direction, or deal the top pick away, the Mavericks are now in position to select Flagg in the NBA Draft in June.
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Flagg is the consensus No. 1 overall prospect in this year’s draft class. The 18-year-old led Duke to the Final Four in the NCAA tournament earlier this season, though they were knocked out by Houston. Flagg averaged 19.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game with the Blue Devils while earning Player of the Year honors. Assuming he goes first, Flagg would be the first American taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft since Paolo Banchero in 2022.
The Mavericks, who have never won the lottery, will now get to pick first after their stunning trade to deal Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers — which drew an immense amount of backlash from fans. But now, just a few months after that decision, the Mavericks have a chance to draft another potential superstar to replace him.
The Utah Jazz (17-65), Washington Wizards (18-64) and Charlotte Hornets (19-63) had the best odds to secure the No. 1 overall pick at 14%. The Mavericks had just a 1.8% chance to claim the No. 1 pick.
The bottom-14 finishers in the regular season were eligible for the draft lottery and were assigned odds for the No. 1 overall pick based on their records. The Jazz, Wizards and Hornets had the best shot. The New Orleans Pelicans and Philadelphia 76ers each had a better-than 10% chance, too.
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On the actual selection process, the NBA notes:
Fourteen ping-pong balls numbered 1 through 14 will be placed in a lottery machine. There are 1,001 possible combinations when four balls are drawn out of 14, without regard to their order of selection. Before the lottery, 1,000 of those 1,001 combinations will be assigned to the 14 participating lottery teams.
The drawing process occurs in the following manner: All 14 balls are placed in the lottery machine and they are mixed for 20 seconds, and then the first ball is removed. The remaining balls are mixed in the lottery machine for another 10 seconds, and then the second ball is drawn. There is a 10-second mix, and then the third ball is drawn. There is a 10-second mix, and then the fourth ball is drawn. The team that has been assigned that combination will receive the No. 1 pick. The same process is repeated with the same ping-pong balls and lottery machine for the second through fourth picks.
Once the top five were determined through the lottery process, the rest of the draft order for the first round will be determined by the reverse order of the remaining teams’ regular-season records. The entire draft order for Round 2 is determined by reverse order of each team’s regular-season record.
NBA Draft lottery results
Here’s a look at the full results from the NBA Draft lottery on Monday night.
1. Dallas Mavericks
2. San Antonio Spurs
3. Philadelphia 76ers
4. Charlotte Hornets
5. Utah Jazz
6. Washington Wizards
7. New Orleans Pelicans
8. Brooklyn Nets
9. Toronto Raptors
10. Houston Rockets
11. Portland Trail Blazers
12. Chicago Bulls
13. Atlanta Hawks
14. San Antonio Spurs
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Follow along for 2025 NBA Draft lottery live updates and results:
