From Maine to the Mavericks: Cooper Flagg Likely Heading to Dallas

The Boston Celtics will always be Maine's favorite team, but another NBA squad is about to generate a lot of interest in the state.

The 2025 NBA Draft Lottery was recently held. This event determines which team will receive the number one pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.

How Does the NBA Draft Lottery Work?

Here's how it works: all the teams that performed poorly during the season are entered into a lottery, with varying odds based on how bad their records were. For example, the team with the worst record has the highest chance of winning the top pick, while the team that just missed the non-play-in game playoffs has the lowest chance.

The winner of the lottery was certainly unexpected, as it went to a team with less than a 2% chance of winning it—the Dallas Mavericks.

Maine's Own Cooper Flagg is Likely to be the First Pick of the NBA Draft

Now, why is this important to Mainers? Because the state's favorite son and standout basketball player, Cooper Flagg, is very very very very very likely to be Dallas’s top pick. So, get ready to see a whole lot of Cooper Flagg Dallas Mavericks jerseys being worn around the state.

Flagg was absolutely dynamic in his only season of college basketball, and he led the Duke Blue Devils to a trip to the Final Four. The Newport native led the team in points (19.2 per game), rebounds (7.5), assists (4.2), steals (1.4), and blocks (1.4). That is simply unheard of. It's one thing to lead in a few of the major categories, but in all of them? That's some serious baller status.

READ MORE: Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello Supports Maine Soccer Team

While the championship may have eluded Flagg, the awards did not. Cooper has been recognized by the ACC, NCAA, coaches, media, and various organizations with a plethora of honors and accolades—including the Wooden Award, which is college basketball’s version of the Heisman Trophy.

Now, Flagg is heading to a team desperate for a new face of the franchise after inexplicably trading its best player, Luka Dončić, earlier this year. It was one of the most head-scratching trades in NBA history.

However, the Mavs lucked out by winning the chance to draft Flagg, who will be joining a squad that could be competitive right away, with stars Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving awaiting him in Dallas.

When is the NBA Draft?

We won’t have to wait long for the Mavs to make it official, with the first round of the NBA Draft kicking off on June 25. What a scene it will be when a kid from Maine goes number one.