The Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers at the February trade deadline changed the entire landscape of the league for years to come.
The Lakers acquired a 26-year-old superstar in his prime to build around for years to come, while the Mavericks fell out of the playoff picture completely with their season being derailed by injuries.
While Dallas’ future looked bleak, they all of a sudden had a lottery pick, albeit with just a 1.8% chance of getting the top pick. That was still a chance though and the ping pong balls went their way as the 2025 NBA Draft lottery took place on Monday night and the Mavericks wound up getting the No. 1 pick. That means they will be able to draft Duke’s Cooper Flagg, or use the pick as a trade asset to bring in another star to pair with Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving.
Given how things transpired, there naturally was a lot of noise about the NBA Draft lottery being rigged. People have speculated for years, of course, but Dallas getting the No. 1 pick after trading Doncic brought the conversation to the forefront of social media.
It appears Lakers star LeBron James was among those that were tuned in as he took to social media to seemingly laugh at the Mavericks winning the lottery:James and the Lakers have been in a similar situation before as the New Orleans Pelicans won the lottery in 2019 and drafted Zion Williamson, which paved the way for them to trade Davis to L.A. that summer.
At the time, Davis winding up on the Lakers seemed like a foregone conclusion after extensive talks at the trade deadline the previous season. The Pelicans landing the No. 1 pick likely helped pave the way for them to follow through with a rebuild and send Davis to the Lakers.
The Mavericks aren’t currently in a rebuild, but getting the top pick in a draft that features Flagg will certainly help them get back into championship contention sooner rather than later. The Western Conference is already loaded and will only get better moving forward as the San Antonio Spurs also moved up and landed the No. 2 pick right behind Dallas.Where do Lakers pick in 2025 NBA Draft?
Meanwhile, the Lakers do not own their first-round pick and will only be picking at No. 55 overall in the second round as things currently stand.
