Cooper Flagg is arguably the next big thing in the NBA. The 2025 NBA Draft Lottery was the biggest day in determining which team holds all the cards to draft Cooper Flagg in June. The Dallas Mavericks, who had a 1.8% chance of landing the No. 1 pick, managed to get the pick by some miracle of mathematics.
Mark Cuban, the minority owner of the Mavericks, also couldn’t believe that they are now front-runners to draft Cooper Flagg, unless the franchise decides otherwise. He took to social media and expressed his opinion on the Mavericks’ great fortune.
His reaction came in two parts. In the first X post, Cuban wrote:
“Unreal OMFG Let’s Go Mavs”
And just minutes later, the second post read:
“Oh my f***ing God !!!”.
The former Mavericks majority owner couldn’t believe that just months after the Luka Doncic trade that left the franchise faithful devastated, the Mavericks now have the chance to draft Cooper Flagg, a potentially generational talent coming into the NBA.
The Conspiracy Theory Behind No. 1 Picks In The NBA Draft
The Mavericks landed the No. 1 pick in the Draft despite only a 1.8% chance that they would do so. Once it was official, fans around the world saw a questionable pattern across multiple NBA drafts and blamed commissioner Adam Silver. Some fans observed that every time a small-market team has allowed their star player to join a big-market team, they have ended up with the No. 1 pick in the next season.
It started with LeBron James, then followed by Chris Paul, then Anthony Davis, and now Luka Doncic. When James left the Cavaliers, they were able to draft Kyrie Irving in the next season in 2011. When Paul left the Pelicans (Hornets at the time) for the Clippers in 2011, they landed the No. 1 pick in the next season, where New Orleans drafted their future franchise player, Anthony Davis.
Then, when Anthony Davis was traded to the Lakers in 2019, the Pelicans landed the No. 1 pick in the draft, which got them Zion Williamson. And now, just months after the Mavericks’ franchise player Luka Doncic was traded to the Lakers, the Mavericks secure the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
While some may believe this is pure coincidence, another shocking fact will show that there may be something fishy happening behind the scenes. The draft is supposed to be designed to create parity between the top and the bottom teams. Ideally, the No. 1 pick has the highest chance of landing with the team with the worst record in the previous season. However, since the NBA smoothed its odds in 2019, the team with the worst record in the league has never landed the No. 1 pick. While this is still not substantial proof of any wrongdoing, it is enough to raise suspicions from a general NBA fan’s perspective.
