Not all NBA Draft lotteries are created equal.
Monday’s was top-shelf. And the Dallas Mavericks are the big winners.
The Mavericks won the No. 1 pick in the lottery and the right to draft Duke phenom Cooper Flagg, the presumed top selection in June’s NBA Draft. The San Antonio Spurs will pick second, the Philadelphia 76ers will select third and the Charlotte Hornets will pick fourth.
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The Mavericks had the fourth-longest odds to win the lottery and secured the No. 1 pick with a 1.8% chance of doing so. They’re the fourth-longest shot to ever win the draft lottery, trailing the 1993 Orlando Magic (1.52%), 2014 Cleveland Cavaliers (1.7%) and 2008 Chicago Bulls (1.7%).
The Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards and Hornets finished with the three worst records in the NBA and each entered Monday’s draft lottery tied with the best odds of securing the No. 1 pick at 14%. None of them secured a top-3 pick.
The Mavericks, Spurs and 76ers each moved up from their positions to leapfrog the teams with the three worst records in the NBA.
Cooper Flagg will almost certainly be the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft on June 25. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
(Patrick Smith via Getty Images)
Full NBA Draft lottery order
Here are the full results from Monday’s lottery.
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No. 1: Dallas Mavericks
No. 2: San Antonio Spurs
No. 3: Philadelphia 76ers
No. 4: Charlotte Hornets
No. 5: Utah Jazz
No. 6: Washington Wizards
No. 7: New Orleans Pelicans
No. 8: Brooklyn Nets
No. 9: Toronto Raptors
No. 10: Houston Rockets (from Suns, via Nets)
No. 11: Portland Trail Blazers
No. 12: Chicago Bulls
No. 13: Atlanta Hawks (from Kings)
No. 14: San Antonio Spurs (from Hawks)
Luka Dončić out, Cooper Flagg in?
The lottery win for the Mavericks caps a tumultuous season in which they conducted one of the most controversial trades in sports history by dealing franchise player and superstar Luka Dončić in his prime to the rival Los Angeles Lakers. The move was greeted with massive outrage from Mavericks fans, mostly aimed at Mavs general manager Nico Harrison.
Harrison’s reaction to winning the lottery was what you’d expect:
Now the Mavericks can focus their rebuild around Flagg, who will join a core that features multi-time All-Stars Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving.
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Former Mavericks great and four-time NBA All-Star Rolando Blackman represented the Mavericks at Monday’s Draft lottery and spoke about the surprise win.
“For us, it’s been a rough year as you all know,” Blackman said on the ESPN broadcast, acknowledging the Dončić ordeal. “But the important part of the whole thing is that we’ll get a chance to move our franchise forward.”
What Flagg can bring to the Mavericks
Flagg has been lauded as a future No. 1 draft pick since early in his prep days. He arrived at Duke last season as one of the most coveted prospects in college basketball history and managed to exceed the hype in a single season.
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A versatile, 6-foot-9 forward, Flagg led Duke as a freshman in points (19.2 ppg), rebounds (7.5), assists (4.2), blocks (1.4) and steals (1.4) while shooting 48.1% from the floor and 38.5% from 3-point distance. He paced the Blue Devils to a 35-4 record as Duke led the nation with a 20.4-point average scoring margin. Duke dominated the ACC with a 19-1 regular-season record and tournament championship before entering the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed.
Flagg was a unanimous first-team All-America selection and finished the season as the consensus National Player of the Year while earning the Wooden Award, Naismith Award and AP National Player of the Year honors, among others.
Duke’s season fell short of the ultimate goal in a disappointing Final Four loss to Houston. The loss did little to dim Flagg’s NBA prospects. He looks every bit like a generational talent with the upside of raising the Mavericks into contention. He’ll join a team that hopes to compete for the playoffs next season after losing in the play-in tournament in April.
Other projected impact players available
Flagg isn’t the only coveted player available near the top of the draft. A pair of outgoing Rutgers freshmen are also highly prized and could very well go Nos. 2 and 3 after Flagg.
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Dylan Harper is a 6-6 guard who can play at either backcourt position and possesses the playmaking ability and upside to develop into a high-level scoring point guard. Ace Bailey is a tremendous 6-10 athlete with the length and versatility to play multiple positions. He’s raw, but can score from anywhere on the floor and offers upside as an elite scorer and disruptive defender.
There are plenty of other enticing prospects throughout the lottery. Flagg is the clear top prospect in this year’s draft, but there are some strong consolation prizes in what projects as an outstanding draft class near the top.
