CHICAGO — Matt Riccardi let slip a clap. One clap, as the reality dawned on the Dallas Mavericks assistant general manager that the Mavs, with 1.8% chance to win the NBA draft lottery, had landed the No. 1 overall pick. One clap, to celebrate the fortunes of a franchise changing with four bouncing Ping-Pong balls. One clap—though after the year Dallas’s front office has had, no one in the lottery drawing room would have begrudged him a standing ovation.
Incredible. Three months after trading Luka Doncic, the Mavs are riding high again. Three months of pain—self-inflicted pain, it should be noted, caused by Dallas GM Nico Harrison’s decision to trade Doncic for a puzzlingly light package—has given way to hope. When the drawing was over, Riccardi pocketed the winning combination—10, 14, 11, 7—and peeled back an owl sticker, a lucky charm he borrowed from his 13-month-old son, Lio. “Amazing,” Riccardi said. Indeed. Last month, Dallas was a play-in team facing an uncertain future. On Monday, they watched a championship window open.
Too much? Nah. There’s no question who Dallas is drafting: Cooper Flagg, the 18-year-old Duke phenom. Flagg is the full package, an athletic, 6' 7", 221-pound wing with a complete skill set. He averaged 19.2 points per game last season, collecting 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists. He shot 48.1% from the floor (good) and 38.5% from three (better). He’s an elite weak side shot blocker and a rapidly improving on-ball defender. He’s not Victor Wembanyama, the French star who went No. 1 in 2023. But he’s the next best thing.
With Flagg, Dallas’s front line is formidable. He can play small forward alongside Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II. He can slide to power forward in the minutes Davis plays in the middle. He’s a high-level playmaker with otherworldly athleticism. Kyrie Irving’s health looms over next season—Irving underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee in March. But Flagg gives Dallas a chance to compete next season—and beyond.
Conspiracy theories will be everywhere, naturally. Dallas trades Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, gifting (or so it seemed) the NBA’s marquee franchise a new superstar to build around, and the league rewards the Mavs with a fresh-faced new star. It’s a sticky narrative, like the frozen envelope David Stern supposedly pulled to send Patrick Ewing to the New York Knicks.
But the NBA takes great pains to legitimize its draft process. More than an hour before the televised drawing, representatives of lottery teams are sequestered in a drawing room. Staffers from the league’s legal department are present. A suit from Ernst & Young. Phones, Apple watches, any electronics are seized before entry. The whole thing is recorded. A handful of reporters are allowed to view the proceedings. All they can bring is a notebook.
The drawing is a painstaking process. Fourteen Ping-Pong balls are dropped inside the lottery machine; think an oversized water jug with air flowing through it. There are 1,001 different combinations when four balls are drawn. Every 10 seconds, a new ball is drawn. The timekeeper stands at the back of the room—with a stopwatch in his hand and his back to the machine.
That Dallas won the lottery is stunning. It is not suspect.
No matter. In the aftermath of the drawing, Riccardi paced a makeshift dais. The room remains sealed until the televised reveal to eliminate any spoilers. Most of the Mavericks staff was off-site at dinner, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen. Riccardi was eager to join them. On Sunday, the Mavericks were dead. On Monday, thanks to a little luck, they roared back.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mavericks Roar Back With No. 1 NBA Draft Pick, Right to Select Cooper Flagg.