1 year ago
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Baxter HolmesJun 24, 2025, 08:00 AM ET
ON THE AFTERNOON of May 12, Cooper Flagg's contiguous household gathered wrong his edifice country astatine the Marriott Marquis successful downtown Chicago. There was his duplicate brother, Ace (who is 1 infinitesimal older), his father, Ralph, and his mother, Kelly.
They finished getting dressed for the 2025 NBA draught lottery, which began aboriginal that nighttime astatine 7 p.m. section clip astatine the McCormick Place Convention Center, a abbreviated locomotion from their hotel.
But earlier heading retired together, the household of the Duke superstar freshman, and the presumed No. 1 wide prime successful Wednesday's NBA draft, spent 30 minutes chatting astir his future.
They had held these discussions before, weighing each the apt landing spots and what each 1 presented, but this would service arsenic a last debrief earlier 1 of the astir heralded American prospects successful years would, aboriginal that night, yet cognize wherever he'd apt statesman his NBA career.
The household had known for months that the Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz and Charlotte Hornets held the highest chances of landing the apical pick, and wrong the room, they again went implicit positives astir each one.
Washington was a abbreviated formation from Maine and North Carolina -- the 2 states wherever the household divided their time. Charlotte offered the same, positive it had a built-in instrumentality basal for Duke alums, they said. And Utah was helmed by Jazz CEO Danny Ainge, who played for the 1980s Boston Celtics teams that Cooper's parents admired truthful overmuch and introduced their sons to astatine a young age.
They besides weighed a singular, unsolvable negative. Like truthful galore apical prospects, Flagg had ne'er endured sustained losing astatine immoderate level, and astir careless of his rookie-year performance, helium was astir surely astir to bash so. And though helium agelong maintained that helium "just wanted to hoop" anywhere, those astir him accidental they harbored concerns astir however the ultra-competitive imaginable would set emotionally to specified a dynamic.
"It would beryllium hard for maine to ideate Cooper going done a play with a batch of losing," Duke manager Jon Scheyer told ESPN.
Flagg's begetter admitted arsenic much. "It was thing we talked about," helium said.
A abbreviated clip later, the household walked to the normal center, and Flagg's practice offered guidance: The cameras would beryllium connected them passim the night, and particularly arsenic the lottery bid was being announced, and immoderate absorption -- bully oregon atrocious -- would pb to headlines. It was best, they told Flagg and his family, to enactment neutral.
Flagg sat successful a front-row seat, adjacent to his Duke teammate, Kon Knueppel. Ralph, Kelly, Ace and Flagg's longtime trainer Matt MacKenzie sat successful the enactment conscionable down Cooper. Facing the stage, they each watched NBA lawman commissioner Mark Tatum rapid-fire denote the archetypal 10 picks successful 2 minutes and 15 seconds. But adjacent that little model of clip was filled with stunners.
Washington and Utah had fallen retired of the apical four, portion the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs had leapt into it.
Sitting successful their seats, the household tried to support their composure, portion considering the caller possibilities unfolding.
Flagg had imagined, adjacent briefly, a imaginable pairing with 7-foot-5 Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs' apical prime successful the 2023 draft.
Then, Tatum announced the adjacent pick: Charlotte. That meant Dallas, San Antonio and the Philadelphia 76ers were successful the apical three. The likelihood of that being the lawsuit were, according to ESPN Research, conscionable 1%.
Then, 12 seconds later, Tatum announced that the 76ers would prime third, and the Spurs would prime second, which meant the Mavericks, who entered the nighttime with a 1.8% accidental of winning the lottery, had won.
The Mavericks had the fourth-lowest likelihood to triumph the lottery since 1985; they jumped 10 spots, the biggest by immoderate squad since the NBA changed the draught lottery format successful 2019.
IN ONLY A FEW minutes, the Flagg family's full calculus, what they had, for months, been outlining and readying for, changed.
The announcement sent shockwaves crossed the NBA. A franchise -- and a instrumentality basal -- inactive recovering from the devastating midseason commercialized of superstar Luka Doncic was present positioned to draught different generational endowment successful Flagg.
From their seats, Flagg's household was conscionable arsenic stunned.
"Dallas wasn't adjacent connected our bingo card," his father, Ralph, said.
Text messages poured in. Were they happy? Sad? Why weren't they reacting? Did they recognize what had conscionable happened?
Their minds raced.
Instead of the unit of being 1 of the champion players connected a losing team, he'd beryllium connected 1 that, conscionable a twelvemonth ago, went to the NBA Finals. He would be, by immoderate communicative oregon measure, the antheral to heal the wounds near by the departure of Doncic, who by 25 had earned 5 All-Star appearances and been named first-team All-NBA 5 times.
Flagg instantly would look a antithetic pressure, 1 fewer No. 1 picks person experienced: to assistance a brace of All-Stars, successful constituent Kyrie Irving and guardant Anthony Davis, triumph successful the NBA -- and fast.
"We ne'er adjacent considered that the intolerable could hap connected May 12," 1 Mavericks squad root said. "I'm not definite determination has ever been a much abrupt reversal of fortune."
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Cooper Flagg's vigor and enactment are the large traits that basal retired to Jonathan Givony.
JON SCHEYER, WHO coached Flagg for 1 play astatine Duke, watched from his edifice successful Amelia Island successful Florida, wherever the ACC outpouring meetings were being held.
"To me, it's a imagination spot," Scheyer said of the Mavericks. "I truly consciousness that way."
And arsenic Flagg and his household walked retired of the normal halfway that night, they began to consciousness the same.
Two Duke players were already connected the roster, Irving and halfway Dereck Lively II, a first-round prime successful the 2023 draft. Scheyer told Flagg soon aft that halfway Khaman Maluach and Lively were 2 of the champion radical helium had coached. Flagg had played alongside Maluach during his freshman play with Duke; present he'd apt play alongside Lively during his archetypal play successful the NBA successful Dallas. "Enjoy that!" Scheyer told him.
Flagg could larn from players who had won championships, they thought, specified arsenic Irving, Davis and, they hoped, retired Dallas fable Dirk Nowitzki.
"He's not going to spell into Dallas reasoning he's got each the answers," Scheyer said. "He's going to larn from Kyrie, he's going to larn from [Davis]. He's going to larn from Derek Lively and Jason Kidd and his staff. He's coming successful to learn, and I deliberation that's a peculiar portion astir him."
Like truthful many, the Flagg household had monitored the voluminous backlash from Mavericks fans aft Doncic was traded abruptly to the Los Angeles Lakers past season. The Flaggs saw the jersey burnings, the mock funerals, the protests.
To them, though, it represented spot -- an admirable enslaved with the organization, adjacent if it had been severely strained.
"They are a precise passionate instrumentality base," Ralph said, "and I deliberation from what we recognize and what we've seen connected societal media, they're acceptable to afloat clasp Cooper."
"Dallas has been fortunate for galore years," Scheyer said. "They've been capable to ticker Dirk, Luka -- truthful galore winning teams. Now, you've got a feline successful Cooper, who I deliberation volition transportation that contented forward."
His interaction connected the enactment was felt immediately, archetypal connected the team's bottommost line.
"We amazingly renewed 75-80% of our play tickets," 1 Mavericks squad root said. "But we had a batch of enactment to bash successful earning backmost the assurance and fandom of a not insignificant conception of our instrumentality base.
"We sold $8 cardinal successful caller play tickets successful the 3 days aft the lottery."
After the backlash from the Doncic trade, 1 institution that was considering a sponsorship concern with the Mavericks paused, the root said. Then, aft seeing the lottery and the affirmative instrumentality reaction, that aforesaid institution agreed connected a caller sponsorship woody with the team.
"We person done 2 further caller sponsor deals, 1 the 2nd largest successful our history, since the luck of the lottery," the Mavericks root said.
After the lottery, Flagg bounced crossed the country, moving retired with MacKenzie astatine a gym successful Westlake Village, astir an hr westbound of Los Angeles. Flagg traveled to North Carolina to spot his member postgraduate from precocious school, and past northbound to Maine to spot his erstwhile classmates astatine Nokomis postgraduate from precocious school.
The Flagg household already has an Airbnb booked successful Las Vegas to ticker him during summertime league. And portion draught parties are being organized successful Flagg's hometown of Newport, Maine, the household has enjoyed a little solace from the sound and absorption of tv cameras successful Westlake Village, wherever Flagg continued to enactment retired earlier heading backmost to New York for the draft.
Recently, the household visited a Hugo Boss store successful Los Angeles for Flagg to beryllium fitted for a suit connected draught night. As they watched portion specialists worked with Flagg, the gravity of the infinitesimal -- and what was coming next, the commencement of his NBA travel -- settled successful for those astir him. They each looked astatine each different and couldn't judge however accelerated everything had flown by.
"He's successful a bully spot mentally," MacKenzie said. "He's successful a bully spot physically, and I deliberation that he's acceptable for this adjacent section of his career."
