Dallas Mavericks win first pick, chance to take Cooper Flagg

The Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Draft lottery Monday night, giving them the No. 1 pick in June’s draft and the chance to take Duke Blue Devils forward Cooper Flagg.

The Mavericks entered the lottery with only a 1.8% chance of winning the first pick.

The San Antonio Spurs will pick second, while the rest of the top five (in order) will be the Philadelphia 76ers, Charlotte Hornets and Utah Jazz.

The Jazz and Washington Wizards both entered with a 14% chance to win the top pick, but instead fell out of the top four. The Wizards will select sixth, while the New Orleans Pelicans — who had the second-best chance with 12.5% odds for the first pick — slid to seventh.

Dallas missed the playoffs this season after controversially trading franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February. The Mavericks will now have an opportunity to add Flagg to a core that includes two former No. 1 picks in Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, though Irving will be recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in March.

Flagg, 18, has widely been expected to be the No. 1 overall selection this summer since he re-classified in 2023 to a class of 2024 recruiting prospect.

In 2022, Flagg was named to the All-Tournament Team for his performance helping lead Team USA to a championship in the FIBA Under-17 Basketball World Cup.

In the summer of 2024, Flagg was chosen as part of the USA Select Team, practicing with the men’s national team ahead of the Paris Olympics.

After committing to play for Duke in November 2023, Flagg spent one season with the Blue Devils, appearing in 37 games and averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists a night. He helped lead Duke to a Final Four appearance in April.

The first round of the NBA draft will take place on June 25, with the second round the following day.

There will be only 59 selections this year after the New York Knicks were forced to forfeit a second-round pick following a 2022 tampering investigation into the signing of Jalen Brunson that summer.

The full results of the lottery are:

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 (via Phoenix Suns)

11. Portland Trail Blazers

12. Chicago Bulls

13. Atlanta Hawks (via Sacramento Kings)

14. San Antonio Spurs (via Atlanta Hawks)