Why Cooper Flagg was 'surprised' when Mavericks got No. 1 pick in NBA draft
CHICAGO — The NBA Draft lottery went faster than Cooper Flagg expected. He didn’t realize his future would be decided so quickly as part of the league’s made-for-TV event to determine the draft order. So once the presumptive No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft had processed what the ping pong balls meant, it took Flagg a moment to process the Dallas Mavericks had won the lottery and the first chance to select him
“I saw the teams just like everybody else, but I feel like it was kind of a crazy sequence of events,” Flagg said Wednesday from the NBA Draft Combine. “... I was surprised like a lot of people.”
The college basketball national player of the year and one-and-done Duke star was in a reflective mood in the aftermath of Monday’s stunning lottery results, which saw Dallas, the San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers each come out with a pick better than what the odds projected. Flagg noted there are eight of his former teammates from either Montverde Academy or Duke going through this process with him as part of the NBA’s week-long encampment in the Windy City for the draft lottery, draft combine and prospect interviews and workouts.
But Flagg kept his comments about potentially playing for the Mavericks brief and direct when meeting with reporters, insisting he hadn’t even considered what NBA team he might wind up with before the lottery was held. Flagg would walk into a veteran-laden roster playing alongside Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving (once he returns from injury), Klay Thompson and Dereck Lively.
“They got a lot of really good pieces, D-Live from Duke. That’s pretty cool,” Flagg said. “I think it’ll be a really good opportunity.”
Flagg, like most expected lottery picks, is not participating in the optional scrimmages at the draft combine on Wednesday and Thursday. But he did go through measurements and on-court testing on Tuesday at Wintrust Arena and showed nothing to suggest his status as the presumed No. 1 pick will change between now and the June 25 draft. His energy in drills was infectious, as he and Texas guard Tre Johnson held an impromptu competition in the pro lane cone drill (Johnson won with an unofficial time of 10.49 seconds).
Flagg has been placed atop this class of prospects for several years now, ever since he transferred from Maine to Montverde Academy in Florida and reclassified almost two years ago. He doesn’t want to be compared to others before and said he can still feel like a kid playing video games with his friends from Maine, despite the expectations and pressure of his arrival into the NBA.
He still relishes the opportunity he got a year ago to play against Team USA before the 2024 Paris Olympics when his performance on the court with the biggest stars in the NBA during a scrimmage drew rave reviews. But when Flagg reads praise from current NBA players, “the little kid inside of me gets really happy and is kind of mind-blown by it,” he said.
“Coop just wants to be normal,” remarked Maryland star Derik Queen, a potential 2025 lottery pick who played with Flagg at Montverde Academy. “But his lifestyle, who he is, unfortunately, he can’t be normal.”
But there Flagg was on Wednesday inside a hotel ballroom, acting just like any 18-year-old might.
He decided to take pit stop in front of Queen's scrum with reporters to see if he could get a reaction before leaving, and wound up asking a question many would like to know about the prospect who is unlike anyone else in this draft.
“What’s it like to play with Cooper Flagg?”
The Mavericks are likely about to find out.