Mark Cuban Calls Mavs Winning NBA Draft Lottery a 'Relief' After 'Difficult Season'
Mark Cuban may no longer be running day-to-day operations for the Dallas Mavericks, but that didn't stop him from celebrating their stunning ascent in the 2025 NBA draft lottery to win the No. 1 overall pick.
In an email to Alex Schiffer and Ben Horney of Front Office Sports, Cuban called the lottery results a "relief" after a "difficult season" for the franchise that saw them make the controversial decision to trade away Luka Dončić.
"It was just a relief," Cuban wrote. "That it was such a crazy difficult season, one moment gave us a new energy going forward."
The Mavericks' 1.8 percent odds were tied with the Chicago Bulls for the third-lowest of the 14 teams in the lottery. They had just an 8.5 percent chance to land a top-four pick.
Cooper Flagg, who has been the presumptive No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft basically since he reclassified in August 2023, is widely believed to be the player Dallas will select on draft night.
B/R's Jonathan Wasserman cited Jalen Johnson and Hall-of-Famer Kevin Garnett as Flagg's NBA player comparisons, while NBA analyst Zach Buckley wrote the Duke alum's "play-finishing will shine alongside Kyrie Irving" when the nine-time All-Star returns from a torn ACL.
The Mavs seemed headed toward disaster status after trading Dončić. There were rumblings down the stretch of the regular season that they might have to deal Anthony Davis and acquire long-term assets that would be the foundation of a rebuild.
In the wake of the Dončić deal, Cuban said he "didn't agree with" it before noting it "wasn't my decision to make."
Cuban still maintains an ownership stake in the franchise, but he sold his majority stake in December 2023 for a valuation of around $3.5 billion. It was initially reported he would maintain full control of basketball operations as part of the deal, though that didn't stick when he revealed the NBA wouldn't allow them to add it into the contract for the sale.
Even though it can be argued that a Mavs team essentially giving away a franchise player and falling directly into another player with player with that type of potential is letting the front office off very easy for their mistakes, no one in Dallas is likely to complain about the lottery results if Flagg develops into a superstar.
