CHICAGO (AP) — The ping-pong balls have spoken: Cooper Flagg is likely to be headed to Dallas to start out his NBA profession.
And a fan base that misplaced Luka Doncic this season might need a brand new star to cheer for.
The Mavericks received the NBA draft lottery on Monday night time, giving them the No. 1 pick in subsequent month’s draft — and the primary likelihood to take Flagg, the freshman who led Duke to the Closing 4 in his lone school season and the consensus participant of the yr.
Dallas bucked enormous odds to get it achieved, with solely a 1.8% likelihood to win the lottery coming into Monday. A Mavs crew that went to the NBA Finals final season, then scorned its followers by buying and selling away Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, left Chicago with the most important prize.
San Antonio — with back-to-back rookies of the yr in Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Citadel — will choose second, Philadelphia will choose third, and Charlotte will choose fourth.
Flagg averaged 19.2 factors, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists whereas main Duke to the Closing 4 in his lone school season. He shot 48% from the sector, 39% from 3-point vary, 84% from the foul line and was The Related Press’ nationwide participant of the yr.
And he’s had success in opposition to NBA gamers already. Final summer time, when the U.S. Olympic crew was holding its coaching camp in Las Vegas upfront of the Paris Video games — the place the People received gold but once more — Flagg was a part of the choose crew introduced in to scrimmage in opposition to the Olympians.
Flagg, who was 17 years outdated on the time, greater than held his personal in these exercises.
Utah will choose fifth, Washington sixth, New Orleans seventh, Brooklyn eighth, Toronto ninth, Houston tenth, Portland eleventh, Chicago twelfth, Atlanta thirteenth and San Antonio 14th.
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