Mar 27, 2025; Newark, NJ, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Cooper Flagg (2) reacts after a play during the first half against the Arizona Wildcats during an East Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Mavericks arch-rival questions team winning lottery, Cooper Flagg pick

Originally posted on Dallas Mavericks on SI
By Austin Veazey | Last updated May 18, 2025 1:33 PM ET

The Dallas Mavericks were given a saving grace for their franchise when they won the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery, despite having the 11th-highest odds of doing so. As long as they don't trade the pick, they're expected to select Duke star Cooper Flagg, who some scouts are calling the greatest two-way prospect they've seen coming out of college.

It's certainly an odd coincidence for the Mavericks to trade a beloved icon in Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for a lackluster return and then land the first pick in the draft just three months later. The lottery process seems impossible to rig given all of the precautions the NBA takes, but that isn't stopping people from making those connections.

NBA legend Dwyane Wade, who is arguably the most hated player among Mavericks fans because of his NBA Finals battles against Dallas as a member of the Miami Heat (Rajon Rondo could be a debate), spoke out against the Mavs winning the lottery, questioning just how coincidental it is.

"I’m not saying anyone is doing anything because I’m not a witness in it,” Wade said to USA Today Sports. “But this is a business that we are a part of, and I think people forget that in the competition of sports and what we love because we grew up playing sports, and it’s not a business when we grow up. But when you're in the NBA, it's a business. And the business has to do its best job to make sure that, you know, it's taken care of."

"I was there one year," Wade continued, "I think it was 2008, when I thought we was going to get the No. 1 pick. We ended up getting the number two pick, we drafted Michael Beasley, but the Chicago Bulls, just like Dallas, they had a small percentage and then they ended up jumping to the Top 4 and in my mind, I said, 'Derrick Rose is the No. 1 pick in the Draft and the Bulls are gonna get first. And the Bulls did. So maybe that was a coincidence, maybe LeBron [James] going to Cleveland [in 2003] is a coincidence."

There are a lot of people who are under the belief the NBA made a call to the Mavericks, concerned about the TV ratings, telling them to trade Doncic to Los Angeles with the promise that they'd give them the first pick in the upcoming draft. But the way the ping pong balls are drawn makes that an extremely difficult thing to do.

This article first appeared on Dallas Mavericks on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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