DALLAS - The Dallas Mavericks lost Luka Doncic.
They are about to gain Cooper Flagg.
And one other superstar - Patrick Mahomes - never wavered.
In a stunning twist of fate, the Mavs have incredibly defied the odds to win the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery, landing the No. 1 overall pick despite holding just a 1.8 percent chance of doing so.
The improbable lottery victory ranks as the fourth-longest odds by a lottery winner in NBA history and sets Dallas up to draft Duke phenom Flagg, regarded as a franchise-altering talent. ...
Maybe just a little bit like the one the Mavs just gave away.
The lottery win comes just three months after the much-maligned blockbuster trade that sent Doncic to LeBron James' Los Angeles Lakers, a move that left the Mavericks reeling and searching for a new direction.
How to fix that mistake? How to win back fans?
Get lucky without Luka.
One guy who is on-board, as much as he surely hated the Luka giveaway is proud Texan Patrick Mahomes, the superstar QB of the Kansas City Chiefs. Mahomes knows his NBA and he loves his Mavs, and so his reaction on X ...
"GOOOOO Dallas Mavs!'' ...
Is understandable.
And, to the people who run the Mavs, quite welcome.
Flagg, who has an all-around skill set that has drawn comparisons to Scottie Pippen, as an 18-year-old freshman dominated at Duke last season. He ended up averaging 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 38.5 percent from beyond the arc.
The 6-foot-9 forward’s elite defensive versatility and high basketball IQ make him the kind of multi-dimensional player that can change the trajectory of a franchise.
The Mavericks will draft Flagg and can pair him with Anthony Davis, who was acquired in the Doncic trade. Dallas will not have a superstar Big 3 for a while, though, as Kyrie Irving is expected to miss significant time next season after tearing his ACL late last year.
The Mavericks, who had the 11th-best odds entering the lottery, overcame several teams to secure the top pick. And now, with Flagg? Maybe the can overcome the wrong that was done in a post-Doncic era.