The Dallas Mavericks have the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft on June 25. In preparation, they’ve scheduled a private workout with Duke freshman Cooper Flagg for June 17, per ESPN.
The 6-foot-9 Flagg is expected to go first-overall in this month’s draft, but this move would only make the likelihood of that occurring increase. Per the report, the Mavericks have no other plans to work out any other players in private like they will Flagg.
The implication there is not just that the Mavericks expect to take Flagg at No. 1, but also that, were they to trade their 1:1 pick in order to acquire a haul of win-now assets to pair with Anthony Davis and — eventually — the rehabilitating Kyrie Irving, who is recovering from surgery to repair an ACL tear suffered in March — they would not be receiving meaningful 2025 draft picks in return.
[Related: Inside the mind of Duke’s Cooper Flagg: ‘He wants to destroy his competition’]
All indications — both public and private, per ESPN — seem to be that the Mavericks will keep the pick and use it to acquire Flagg, however, especially given general manager Nico Harrison’s refrain of defense winning championships being the reason the organization dealt Luka Doncic to the Lakers in a shocking February trade. Essentially, Flagg himself as viewed as a win-now asset.
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Flagg’s offensive potential is considerable — he scored 19.2 points per game as a freshman at Duke, with 4.2 assists per game as a forward — but defense is where he truly shines. He averaged 1.4 blocks and steals per game while pulling down an average of 6.2 defensive rebounds, and the only questions about him entering the 2024-2025 NCAA season were about how quickly his offense would catch up to his stellar defensive chops. Flagg ended up winning award after award for his one-and-done performance, which also included a trip to the Final Four for Duke.
The Mavericks had just a 1.8% chance of securing the first-overall pick in the NBA Draft, and only even had that much of one because the team went into freefall falling the Doncic trade. Despite the almost nonexistent chance of being in line to draft Flagg, however, the Mavericks ended up winning the NBA Draft lottery, and are now weeks away from bringing him to Dallas if they choose to do so.
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Cooper Flagg
Dallas Mavericks
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