"I just want somebody to jump in and play alongside Flagg." Rolando Blackman shares his perspective as he returns to the NBA Draft Lottery for Dallas.
CHICAGO — Rolando Blackman is heading back to the NBA Draft Lottery stage, and he wants the same result he got a year ago.
"We want lightning to strike at the same place as far as that's concerned, so I hope to be under that lightning," Blackman told Mavs.com.
The Mavericks are sending the four-time All-Star and franchise icon back to Navy Pier on Sunday for a second crack at the top pick. A year ago, Blackman watched from the stage as the Mavericks overcame 1.8% odds to land the No. 1 overall selection, which the team used on Duke forward Cooper Flagg.
Dallas has better odds this time around. The Mavericks carry a 6.7% chance at the top pick into Sunday's drawing, almost four times what they had a year ago. The lottery tips at 2 p.m. CT on ABC.
Blackman played 11 seasons for the Mavericks from 1981 to 1992 and now serves as the team's vice president of corporate relations and inclusion ambassador. He said he plans to stick with the routine that carried him through last year's drawing.
"I remember I had chicken and rice for lunch before I walked over to that ballroom, and I know I'm going to have chicken and rice again," Blackman said.
Last year's win was the first time the Mavericks moved up in the lottery since the format began in 1985. Dallas jumped the San Antonio Spurs, who landed the No. 2 pick.
Mavericks chief executive officer Rick Welts selected Blackman to represent the team on stage again. Matt Riccardi, who served as co-interim general manager after Nico Harrison's dismissal, will return to the sequestered drawing room where the actual ping-pong ball drawing takes place. NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer Mark Tatum will open the envelopes in reverse order on stage and will not know the results until he reveals them on the broadcast.
The lottery comes days after the Mavericks hired Masai Ujiri as president and alternate governor. Ujiri attended the 2025 lottery as the Toronto Raptors' representative with a 7.5% chance at the top pick and watched Toronto fall from sixth to ninth.
"I went to watch (Flagg) in practice, and I'm watching this guy, these long feet, quick," Ujiri said. "I jumped from six to nine. But you know what, God said I was going to get (Flagg), and I got him here."
Blackman said the goal Sunday is straightforward.
"I just want good things for the organization and somebody to jump on in and play alongside Flagg," he said. "It was one of the greatest feelings I've ever had in my life, and I'm hoping to experience something like that again."