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Paige Bueckers Didn't Think Mavericks Winning NBA Draft Lottery Was Real at First

Bueckers believed it happened for a reason.

Madison Williams

Dallas Wings rookie Paige Bueckers looks on during a preseason game.
Dallas Wings rookie Paige Bueckers looks on during a preseason game. / Justin Casterline/Getty Images
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Paige Bueckers, like most of the basketball world, was very surprised on Monday night when the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA draft lottery. The Mavs beat the 1.8% odds to capture the No. 1 pick in next month's draft, and in turn locked in Duke's Cooper Flagg with the top selection.

Bueckers, who was just drafted by the Dallas Wings with the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft last month, admitted that she thought the news was fake when it was announced.

"That's another thing that I didn't think was real at first," Bueckers said, via Dallas Morning News' Myah Taylor. "But I believe God makes no mistakes, so that happened for a reason."

This makes Dallas just the second city in NBA/WNBA history to win the lottery in both leagues in the same year. Bueckers will get to welcome Flagg to Dallas in about a month, as the Mavericks solidified the Duke forward as their top pick on Tuesday.

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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.

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