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Paige Bueckers Believes Cooper Flagg Will be 'Nice Addition' to Dallas Mavericks

Dallas Wings star Paige Bueckers spoke about Cooper Flagg likely landing with the Dallas Mavericks after the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery.
Grant Young|
Apr 14, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Paige Bueckers is interviewed by ESPN after being selected with the number one overall pick to the Dallas Wings in the 2025 WNBA Draft at The Shed at Hudson Yards. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Apr 14, 2025; New York, New York, USA; Paige Bueckers is interviewed by ESPN after being selected with the number one overall pick to the Dallas Wings in the 2025 WNBA Draft at The Shed at Hudson Yards. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The 2025 NBA Draft lottery took place on May 12. And despite having just a 1.8% chance to secure the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, the Dallas Mavericks won the lottery and secured the rights to that top pick, which is all but guaranteed to be Duke superstar Cooper Flagg.

One fascinating aspect of this is that the Mavericks have been under a ton of scrutiny ever since they traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this year, which many believed was a ridiculous trade that made no sense for the franchise. However, with Flagg now likely being the Mavericks' next superstar, it appears that everything may work out for them.

Of course, the Mavericks aren't Dallas' only professional basketball franchise to get a No. 1 pick in a recent draft, as the Dallas Wings selected Paige Bueckers with the 2025 WNBA Draft's top pick last month.

Bueckers spoke with the media ahead of her team's May 16 WNBA regular season debut against the Minnesota Lynx. And at one point, she discussed the Mavericks' lottery win and the prospect of Flagg coming to town.

"Yeah, that's another thing that I didn't think was real at first. I think 1.8% odds to get the first pick," Bueckers said, per an X post from Myah Taylor of Dallas News. "But I believe God makes no mistakes, and so that happened for a reason.

"I know Cooper doesn't take it for granted that he's the No. 1 as of right now. He'll wait to hear his name get called. But if that's the case, which it most likely will be, that will be super exciting for the entire organization, who's not on a rebuild and who already has a great team," Bueckers added.

"To add him to a championship-level team is a very nice addition."

Recent basketball draft lotteries have been very good to the city of Dallas.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.

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