Nobody in basketball believed the Dallas Mavericks would take home the No. 1 pick for the 2025 NBA draft. They finished with a 39-43 regular season record, and the franchise made headlines for trading Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers. But the Cooper Flagg jaw-dropper took the NBA fraternity by surprise.
Mavericks GM Nico Harrison was slammed for the trade, but he might have won the lucky ticket for a million dollars with Flagg, a player most fans dubbed the next Jayson Tatum.
Most people believed the Washington Wizards would receive the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft lottery following their dismal 18-64 record. The script flipped when the Mavericks entered and secured the right to select Flagg as their top player.
With the astonishing news hovering around, fans took to social media to express their concerns regarding the legitimacy of the trade.
Cooper Flagg’s Potential Move to the Dallas Mavericks Irks Fans
Notably, the basketball fraternity considered that the Wizards would get the No. 1 pick, considering their record in the season. History always suggests they did. Yet, nobody saw this coming.
The Mavericks had a 1.8% chance of earning the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, with the 11th-best odds. The NBA held the draft lottery at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, and fans scratched their eyes in disbelief.
One user stated, “Mavs traded Luka and now they get the number one pick lmao. Maybe the NBA is rigged.”
Mavs traded Luka and now they get the number one pick lmao.
Maybe the NBA is rigged
— 𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙏 𝙉𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 (@HeatvsHaters) May 12, 2025
By trading Dončić to the Lakers, Harrison faced heavy criticism from the Dallas faithful. As Harrison found out the hard way, trading your prodigal son doesn’t earn you brownie points. Yet, somehow, the world was not as cold as it was to him a few months back.
LeBron James, on the other hand, had a peculiar reaction to the trade. He commented, “🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣,” on X, maybe coming out with a sarcastic response to the NBA draft lottery.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 12, 2025
The Mavericks will have the first overall pick in the NBA Draft 2025, held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25 and 26. The San Antonio Spurs received the second pick, with Victor Wembanyama and Co. missing Flagg by a whisker.
One of the fastest-growing sports analyst and investor, Joe Pompliano, commented on X, “I’m not a big conspiracy theorist but it seems awfully convenient that the Mavericks traded Luka to the NBA’s biggest market and then got Cooper Flagg in return months later, despite having just a 1.8% chance to land the number one pick.”
Flagg could team up with Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Klay Thompson to become one of the top teams in the NBA. The 18-year-old Maine native averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists as a freshman and remains one of the top prospects in the league.
Another user mentioned, “Great day for NBA conspiracy theory crowd. Do us a solid, trade Luka to Lakers to help ratings & we’ll gift wrap top pick.” The Dončić trade hit the Dallas faithful hard, as this No. 1 lottery pick could nurse the wounds caused by it.
Thus, this user can’t believe the Mavericks received the No. 1 pick after all they did to trade the Slovenian to the Lakers. The user commented, “Wow one of the dumbest trades in sports history is rewarded with the rights to Cooper Flagg!!”
Thus, the NBA’s conspiracy theories keep coming into the spotlight. This user cited, “I have so many conspiracy theories about the NBA right now.”
With murmurs of low NBA TV ratings, the draft lottery will get fans talking, with most fans on social media blaming NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for the trade.
The conspiracy theories loom around the basketball fraternity after this trade. The fans can’t fathom the magnitude of this NBA draft lottery, as Flagg will now, and with all probability, head to the Mavericks.
