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NBA Insider Reveals Reaction Inside Media Room When Mavericks Won Draft Lottery

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Evan Massey | Last updated May 14, 2025 8:35 AM ET

The Dallas Mavericks received the biggest gift that any team could ask to get. Despite only having a 1.8% chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick and the right to draft Cooper Flagg, the Mavericks won the night and made the nearly impossible leap.

After trading Luka Doncic and receiving a ton of hate for doing it, Dallas now has a chance to bring Flagg in and build around the big three of Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and Flagg moving forward.

Since the shocking lottery result, plenty of theories have been floating around. Regardless of those theories, the Mavericks hold the No. 1 pick and will likely have a new potential franchise player for the future.

Zach Lowe, a notable NBA insider, spoke out about the media room's reaction to Dallas winning the lottery.

“Everyone was dying of laughter, muffling their laughter," he said.

“Everyone was dying of laughter, muffling their laughter.”@ZachLowe_NBA describes what it was like in the lottery drawing room when the Mavs somehow landed the no. 1 pick. pic.twitter.com/PnKxtvOQsh
— The Ringer (@ringer) May 13, 2025

Flagg has a chance to become a very special player in the NBA. As a freshman with the Duke Blue Devils during the 2024-25 college basketball season, he averaged 19.2 points per game to go along with 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.4 steals. He shot 48.1% from the floor and 38.5% from the 3-point line.

What kind of player can Flagg become at the next level? Quite a few comparisons have been made and they're all very interesting.

Bleacher Report analyst Jonathan Wasserman suggested Kevin Garnett as one possible option.

Only time will tell, but few teams get a second chance like the Mavericks are getting. Trading one generational superstar away and getting ripped into for making that deal just to win the lottery with extremely unlikely odds to potentially get another is extreme luck.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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