The Dallas Mavericks won the NBA draft lottery Monday night despite minuscule odds.
The Mavericks entered the night with just a 1.8% chance of landing the top pick, and that's exactly what they did. Of the teams in the lottery, their odds were the fourth-worst, yet they came up lucky and will have the opportunity to select Duke's Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 pick.
Dallas had the fourth-lowest odds for a team that wound up landing the No. 1 pick in NBA history. The Orlando Magic had a 1.52% chance when they won in 1993, the Cleveland Cavaliers had a 1.7% chance in 2014 and the Chicago Bulls had a 1.8% chance in 2008.
The draft lottery win provides a lifeline to embattled Mavs general manager Nico Harrison, who has been under fire since he traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers on February 2. He was able to land Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick out of that deal, and now can add Flagg to a core that also includes Kyrie Irving and Dereck Lively II.
Irving tore his ACL on March 3, so his availability for the 2025–26 season is up in the air, but with Flagg likely coming on board, Dallas should be competitive. Even after the Doncic trade, the Mavs now have a future with one of the best young draft prospects to enter the NBA draft in years.
This doesn't vindicate Harrison, but it certainly makes him look a lot better.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mavericks Overcame Microscopic Draft Lottery Odds for Chance to Take Cooper Flagg.
