The Dallas Mavericks won the ultimate lottery ticket when they secured the chance to draft Cooper Flagg with the first overall pick in the NBA draft later this month.
And with ESPN reporting that Flagg and the Mavericks are scheduled for a private visit next week, it looks increasingly likely that Dallas is going to accept that gift and select the Newport, Maine, native first on June 25.
Flagg and the Mavs have scheduled the private workout for Tuesday, June 17, according to a Sunday report from ESPN’s Shams Charania Jonathan Givony.
“The Mavericks have no plans to work out any other prospects for the No. 1 pick and have made clear publicly and privately that they plan on selecting Flagg when [NBA Commissioner] Adam Silver puts them on the clock to open the 2025 NBA Draft,” Charania and Givony reported.
Sources had already indicated to ESPN that the Dallas organization recognizes its unlikely draft lottery win, and the opportunity to add a generational talent in Flagg to an already talented roster, as a “gift.” Dallas entered the draft lottery in May with just a 1.8 percent chance of snagging the first pick, making the Mavs one of the least likely lottery winners in NBA history.
Flagg has long been expected to be the number one pick in the draft. He won nearly every player of the year award in college basketball this season as a freshman at Duke University, where he led the team in points, rebounds, assistant steals and blocks per game.
The 18-year-old phenom is not planning additional team visits, according to ESPN, with the stage set for Flagg to join a Mavericks team that is just one season removed from an NBA Finals appearance.
“Flagg is not planning on conducting any additional visits, sources said, and both sides are aligned on his arrival as the No. 1 pick in Dallas, where he will both step into a significant role and have a chance to immediately contend for a playoff appearance alongside several key veterans,” Charania and Givony reported on Sunday.
Those veterans include a formidable collection of past NBA champions in guard Kyrie Irving, big man Anthony Davis and guard Clay Thompson. Irving and center Dereck Lively II both played at Duke like Flagg. Irving suffered a season-ending knee injury in early March and is expected to return mid-season this coming campaign.
“As far as Dallas goes, they’ve got a lot of really good pieces,” Flagg said at the NBA draft combine in May, as reported by the Associated Press. “D-Live, coming from Duke, that’s pretty cool. So I think it would be a really cool opportunity.”