If we learned from the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery, it's that the Basketball Gods work in mysterious ways.
A few months after trading away a generational superstar in Luka Dončić, the Dallas Mavericks have been granted this year's No. 1 pick. Suddenly, they'll presumably replace him with Duke phenom and consensus top prospect Cooper Flagg. You can't make this stuff up, folks. Or can you?
The Mavericks and general manager Nico Harrison are ostensibly rewarded for their well-chronicled, not mutual breakup with Dončić. NBA fans either refuse or don't want to believe it. Social media is up in flames, thinking Dallas may have gotten some help from the league's higher-ups.
Subscribe to The Whiteboard, FanSided's daily email newsletter on everything basketball. If you like The Whiteboard, share it with a friend. If you hate it, share it with an enemy!
NBA fans believe draft lottery was rigged to give Mavericks Cooper Flagg
"Rigged" is trending on X (formerly known as X), for whatever that's worth. And when you click on it, the reactions and memes are endless.
Adam Silver - “Let’s just hope there’s no outcome that fans can say is rigged”
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) May 12, 2025
Every fan after that outcome - pic.twitter.com/CeTEYb3WWs
Of all the possible outcomes, Dallas winning the Flagg sweepstakes was one of, if not the worst. League commissioner Adam Silver will have some 'splainin' to do.
the nba is never beating the rigged allegations pic.twitter.com/mFitmydwoC
— csb (@itsCSB__) May 12, 2025
The graphic above shows five teams with a 2.8 percent chance or lower of claiming the No. 1 pick since the lottery began in 1985. More specifically, it's happened thrice over the past 15 years. Mathematically speaking, that shouldn't be happening, raising legitimacy concerns.
We all know the lottery is rigged but this is on a different level. Did the NBA promise them the 1st pick to get Luka to LA?? pic.twitter.com/Zmvh0N0vGH
— Bryson Wright (@BrysonWright3) May 12, 2025
Was there a secret handshake agreement between Silver and the Mavs to send Dončić to L.A. for the first pick? There's been no confirmation. But there's also been nothing to suggest otherwise, which makes you think.
So the lakers get the star player. The team that traded the star player gets the number 1 pick? I feel like I’ve seen this story before
— Julio 🔜?? (@julioloveswater) May 12, 2025
NBA is #rigged pic.twitter.com/Jerd356iv5
Oddly enough, we've seen this movie before, but with a different cast of characters. The Mavericks aren't the first organization to re-route their franchise player to the Lakers and receive the No. 1 pick the same year. Paradoxically, it was Anthony Davis with the New Orleans Pelicans, whom Dallas netted as the centerpiece of their stunning blockbuster swap involving Dončić.
While Harrison and the Mavericks may not deserve Flagg, the fans certainly do after being put through the wringer with Dončić. In the wake of a messy, bleak situation, there's seemingly a light at the end of the tunnel for the Dallas faithful.