By Tim ReynoldsThe Related Press
CHICAGO — The ping-pong balls have spoken: Cooper Flagg is likely to be headed to Dallas to start out his NBA profession.
And a fan base that misplaced Luka Doncic this season may need a brand new star to cheer for.
The Mavericks gained the NBA draft lottery on Monday night time, giving them the No. 1 choose in subsequent month’s draft — and the primary likelihood to take Flagg, the freshman who led Duke to the Closing 4 in his lone school season and the consensus participant of the yr.
“I am so happy for Mavericks fans,” Dallas CEO Rick Welts mentioned, clutching the envelope with the No. 1 emblazoned on it. “I only got to Dallas January 1st this year. February 1st, we broke the internet. I am just amazed at the depth of emotion and connection that the fan base has with this team. And what happened today, I can’t imagine a better day for Mavs fans. It’s going to really be something special. I can’t wait to get back to Dallas.”
Dallas bucked enormous odds to get it carried out, with solely a 1.8% likelihood — “a 1.8% chance? Are you kidding me?” Welts mentioned — to win the lottery coming into Monday. A Mavs crew that went to the NBA Finals final season, then scorned its followers by buying and selling away Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, left the lottery with the largest prize.
“I didn’t try to think about it too much,” Flagg mentioned on the printed of the lottery about what it’ll possible imply for his quick future. “It was out of my control.”
If Miami had misplaced within the play-in event, the Warmth would have had the chances that the Mavericks ended up having — so if the ping-pong balls bounced the identical method, they’d have had the No. 1 choose.
“I mean come on man,” Warmth ahead Kevin Love posted on social media when the lottery winner was introduced, presumably his response to seeing a No. 1 choose that would have been Miami’s go elsewhere.
As a substitute, it was Dallas’ night time. And one other Texas crew practically stole the present.
San Antonio, with back-to-back rookies of the yr in Victor Wembanyama — the prize of the 2023 lottery — and Stephon Fortress, will choose second. Philadelphia will choose third, and Charlotte will choose fourth.
“When you jump into the top four again, you put yourself as an organization in a place to make a really big acquisition with a really good player,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson mentioned. “And that’s what we’re going to look forward to doing.”
Flagg averaged 19.2 factors, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists whereas main Duke to the Closing 4 in his lone school season. He shot 48% from the sector, 39% from 3-point vary, 84% from the foul line and was The Related Press’ nationwide participant of the yr.
And he’s had success towards NBA gamers already. Final summer season, when the U.S. Olympic crew was holding its coaching camp in Las Vegas upfront of the Paris Video games — the place the People gained gold but once more — Flagg was a part of the choose crew introduced in for scrimmages towards the Olympians.
Flagg, who was 17 years previous on the time, greater than held his personal in these exercises.
“I don’t know who we’re going to take, but should we take him, I think his resume is pretty strong,” Welts mentioned. “Every time he’s put in a situation that everyone wondered if he could succeed, he’s succeeded and then some.”
The opposite lottery resultsUtah will choose fifth, Washington sixth, New Orleans seventh, Brooklyn eighth, Toronto ninth, Houston tenth, Portland eleventh, Chicago twelfth, Atlanta thirteenth and San Antonio 14th.
There have been 13 groups with an opportunity to win the No. 1 choose. Utah, Washington and Charlotte had the perfect odds at 14% every. The Jazz and Wizards received jumped, with San Antonio and Philadelphia transferring into the highest 4.
For the Jazz, it was the extension of a development they didn’t need to see proceed — on this format, the crew that completed the season with the worst document hasn’t gained the lottery. Utah was a league-worst 17-65 this season and received the fifth choose, its worst attainable lottery final result.
There have been 14 lottery spots however solely 13 groups with an opportunity to win the No. 1 choose as a result of Atlanta’s odds conveyed to San Antonio, primarily that means the Spurs have been within the lottery twice — with a 6% likelihood of profitable on their very own, and a 0.7% likelihood to win with the Hawks’ combos of ping-pong balls.
This technique has been in place since 2019, the most recent effort to discourage tanking — the follow the place groups aren’t overly all in favour of profitable regular-season video games with hopes as a substitute of bettering their probabilities of profitable the No. 1 draft choose.
The groups with the three worst data all have the identical likelihood — 14% — of profitable the No. 1 choose, and odds for the remaining lottery groups are steadily diminished from there.
The remainder of the draft orderThe lottery solely units the order for the primary 14 picks within the draft. The remainder of the primary spherical — picks 15-30 — was decided by regular-season end, although a few of these picks have been traded many occasions over time.
The remainder of the first-round order, for now: Oklahoma Metropolis at No. 15, Orlando No. 16, Minnesota No. 17, Washington No. 18, Brooklyn No. 19 and Miami No. 20, by advantage of the Warriors sending their first-round choose to the Warmth within the Jimmy Butler commerce..
From there, the ultimate 10 picks within the first spherical are owned by Utah (21), Atlanta (22), Indiana (23), Oklahoma Metropolis (24), Orlando (25), Brooklyn (26 and 27), Boston (28), Phoenix (29) and the Los Angeles Clippers (30).
