Cooper Flagg never thought Dallas had a chance at the lottery. One year later, he is the face of the franchise and the Mavericks are hoping the ping pong balls find them again on May 10.
On May 10, the Dallas Mavericks will sit in a room in Chicago and wait for ping pong balls to decide their future again. One year ago, they walked out of that same city with a 1.8% miracle and the most coveted prospect in years. Now, with the eighth-best odds in the 2026 lottery, they need lightning to strike twice. The player they got last time just went on a podcast and admitted he never saw any of it coming.
Flagg sat down with teammates Max Christie and Ryan Nembhard on The Old Man and the Three. It was a relaxed, candid conversation that covered everything in his basketball journey. But the moment that resonated most with Mavericks fans was his account of draft lottery night in Chicago. Dallas was not on his radar. Not even close.
"Dallas was never a thought," Flagg said. "I never thought about coming to Dallas. There were a lot of teams in the mix that I was like, oh, I hope they get it. Dallas wasn't even, never even thought about them getting the pick."
That is not a slight. It is simply the math. The Mavericks had a 1.8% chance. The three teams with the highest odds, Washington, Utah, and Charlotte, all fell out of the top three. What happened on that stage in Chicago was one of the most improbable outcomes in recent lottery history.
By the time draft night arrived at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Flagg had months to process the idea of playing in Dallas. He arrived four hours early with his family, did interviews, walked the red carpet, and tried to stay calm. It did not work. When the board narrowed to San Antonio and Dallas as the final two teams, he was fighting to hide how excited he actually was, which his agent had specifically told him not to show.
"I was like, this is amazing," Flagg said. "So then I was just like, all right, well now I just got to contain my excitement in those two. I was trying to not react in any way and just kind of be stoic. So I tried my best to keep a straight face."
A city that never crossed his mind became the one that defined his first year as a professional. He averaged 21 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists, became the only teenager in NBA history to score 50 points in a game and scored 40 or more against LeBron James the very next night. The Mavericks are now one of the most interesting young teams in the league because of a lottery ticket that had no business hitting.