2025 NBA Draft Lottery: 4 winners, 3 losers

2025 NBA Draft Lottery: 4 winners, 3 losers

The 2025 NBA Draft lottery happened Monday night, and man, was it one for the ages. The Dallas Mavericks earned the No. 1 pick and #CapturedTheFlagg™, just like everyone preferred. For more on the results, click here!

Who were the winners and losers from Monday night’s lottery? Let’s dive into it!

Winner: Dallas Mavericks

I’m not a conspiracy theorist; I don’t care for them nor indulge in them. I’ll let you be the one to say that the lottery was rigged or not. All I know is that the Dallas Mavericks are the clear winner here, winning the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery and landing a fringe-generational prospect in Cooper Flagg. Their 10-spot leap was tied for the greatest in NBA History for a team that won the lottery. Congratulations! The real winner here is whatever is left of their fan base, which has been through a torture chamber the last three months.

Loser: Tanking teams who bottomed out

The Charlotte Hornets, Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards all had the best odds (14 percent apiece) at landing the No. 1 pick. Well, they landed with picks Nos. 4-6, respectively. Better yet, while Charlotte had a 12.0 percent chance at getting No. 4, Utah and Washington landed at the worst possible pick they could’ve had. We’ve seen that completely bottoming out doesn’t automatically grant you the No. 1 pick (anymore), and Monday was another example of that, for better or worse.

Winner: Nico Harrison

I’ll stand 10 toes down: Nico Harrison committed organizational malpractice with how he traded Luka Doncic (and for what). But Harrison got another one of the best prospects in recent memory. He himself said that defense wins championships, and Flagg is one of the best defenders in this class. Don’t mess up this time, Nico!

Loser: Also, Nico Harrison

Harrison is also a loser because now he has to figure out how to build around Flagg with a limited treasure chest of assets. Not to mention, Kyrie Irving may have played his last game with the Mavericks, barring an extension. Their 2028 and 2030 first-round picks are swaps with Oklahoma City and San Antonio; their 2027 is with Charlotte (top-2 protected) while their 2029 pick is an unprotected first to either Houston or Brooklyn. They have the Lakers’ 2029 unprotected first-round pick, giving them three tradable firsts on draft night.

But the Mavericks aren’t loaded with young talent and will need to re-stock at some point sooner rather than later. This isn’t a situation where Flagg is falling into a bad situation with an abundance of future assets to either consolidate (for a big name) or use to build around him. Harrison may have failed upwards, but he still has a lot of work to do to build a legitimate contender around Flagg.

Winner: San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs somehow lucked into another top pick, landing the No. 2 pick. It’s not Cooper Flagg, but they can either take Harper, trade back for more players/picks or use the No. 2 pick as a primary asset to acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo if he asks out. I think the latter is the most likely outcome, but it takes two to tango. Nevertheless, the rich got richer. San Antonio is in an unbelievable spot to strike when the iron’s hot.

The 2025 NBA Draft Lottery Was Clearly Rigged

Loser: Miami Heat

The Heat, who became the first No. 10 seed to win two play-in games on the road to make the postseason, owned the 11th-best odds to win the lottery pre-play-in. Guess where Dallas was? On a night where their draft position wasn’t affected, given the state of their franchise post-Jimmy Butler, they’re one of Monday’s biggest losers. Talk about a gut-punch.

Winner: Philadelphia 76ers

Not that I am endorsing that Philadelphia, as a whole, is in a good state (they’re not). But it can take any one of Tre Johnson, V.J. Edgecombe or Ace Bailey to put alongside Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and Paul George at No. 3. We know who George prefers, but for a team that entered Monday not knowing whether they would keep their pick or not, they’re a clear winner even though they didn’t #CaptureTheFlagg™.

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