Bulls Were a Tiebreaker Away From Having Mavericks' Spot in NBA Draft Lottery

Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan reacts during a timeout in the first quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena. | David Richard-Imagn Images

The Chicago Bulls just missed out on history.

The Bulls finished the 2024-25 season with the same record as the Dallas Mavericks. Both teams were 39-43, which meant a tiebreaker was needed to determine who got the higher draft odds. The Mavericks won the random draw and received the 11th-best odds to land the No. 1 pick, while the Bulls wound up 12th. And that made all the difference.

Five ties among teams with identical regular-season records were broken today through random drawings to determine the order of selection for NBA Draft 2025 presented by State Farm. pic.twitter.com/FExaNFXF2B

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 21, 2025

Chicago had a 1.7% chance of landing the top selection, and Dallas entered the night with a 1.8% chance. As we all know, the Mavericks won the lottery and the top pick. Had the random draw gone the other way, the Bulls would have landed the No. 1 selection and the chance to draft Duke's Cooper Flagg.

Instead of having the top pick and a potential superstar, Chicago will select 12th. That random draw cost the Bulls a franchise-changing player.

That one will sting for a while.

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