The ping-pong balls have spoken: Cooper Flagg might be headed to Dallas to start his NBA career.
CHICAGO — The Dallas Mavericks officially landed the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft during Monday night’s NBA Draft Lottery in Chicago.
And a fan base that lost Luka Doncic this season might have a new star to cheer for. Cooper Flagg is projected to head to Dallas to start his NBA career.
Dallas earned the 11th-best lottery odds after qualifying for the Western Conference Play-In Tournament but falling short of a playoff berth. The Mavs lost their second Play-In game to the Memphis Grizzlies, ending their season just shy of the first round.
A coin flip tiebreaker with the Chicago Bulls secured the Mavs a slight edge in lottery positioning, though their odds of jumping into the top four remained low.
Dallas bucked huge odds to get it done, with only a 1.8% chance to win the lottery coming into Monday.
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A Mavs team that went to the NBA Finals last season, then scorned its fans by trading away Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, left Chicago with the biggest prize.
San Antonio — with back-to-back rookies of the year in Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle — will pick second, Philadelphia will pick third, and Charlotte will pick fourth.
Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists while leading Duke to the Final Four in his lone college season. He shot 48% from the field, 39% from 3-point range, 84% from the foul line and was The Associated Press’ national player of the year.
And he’s had success against NBA players already. Last summer, when the U.S. Olympic team was holding its training camp in Las Vegas in advance of the Paris Games — where the Americans won gold yet again — Flagg was part of the select team brought in to scrimmage against the Olympians.
Flagg, who was 17 years old at the time, more than held his own in those workouts.
Utah will pick fifth, Washington sixth, New Orleans seventh, Brooklyn eighth, Toronto ninth, Houston 10th, Portland 11th, Chicago 12th, Atlanta 13th and San Antonio 14th.
The NBA Draft 2025 will take place June 25-26 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Coverage on both nights will begin at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN platforms.
This is a developing story. We will provide more information as it is provided.