After February 2, 2025, Dallas as a whole needed a pick-me-up. That came when the Mavericks – either by fate or design – won the rights to select Cooper Flagg. The cynics were sure there was some manipulation behind Nico Harrison’s emphatic reaction on May 12, the moment they got the first pick of the 2025 draft. Whatever happened at the draft lottery in May, even Mark Cuban didn’t expect. He was so far removed by the time Luka Doncic was traded away, he lost interest. Nico Harrison is gone and Mark Cuban is back to the team. And he’s finally revealed what he felt about the Mavs winning the draft lottery.

Mark Cuban was on Run Your Race on the day his return to the basketball operations was finalized. The former team owner still holds a significant stake in the Mavs but Nico Harrison reportedly exiled him from the front office.

After implying he was misled by Harrison on the Luka Doncic trade, Cuban was not keen on even watching the NBA Draft Lottery of 2025. “I’m getting ready to take a shower. Because for 40, what, 25, 44 years, the Mavs have never moved up, right? So, I’m thinking this is going to be no different, where we’re supposed to be at number 11. That’s where we’re going to turn out.”

He only had it on the TV when his son, Jake, asked him. Cuban hilariously recalled he was only in shorts waiting for the Mavericks to be called out. They’ve made it past 11 but they aren’t. Now Cuban is invested. “I’m thinking, ‘Okay, we’re going to do the Mavs.’ And I’m like, ‘They don’t call the Mavs.’ Yeah. And I’m looking at Jake going, ‘Oh, f—. Now we’re top four, top four at that point, right? I’m like, ‘We’re top four. Oh my f—— god, we’re moving up!’“

In the most typical sports dad scenario, Jake’s telling his dad to, “Hurry up. Take a shower.” But there was no way the billionaire was not seeing this true. “I’m like, ‘I ain’t moving.’ I’m like, I literally did not move my two feet until they came up with our pick, and I started screaming, and that was it.”

That summed up most of Dallas’ reaction and not just in Nico’s office. The Mavericks had the chance to pick the new Chosen One, Duke superstar, Cooper Flagg. 

The Draft Lottery joy was shortlived

Until the draft lottery day, the Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz, and Charlotte Hornets were the possible frontrunners to win Cooper Flagg. Washington and Utah were out of top 4 and the Mavs and Spurs moved up. It was clearer that Flagg is heading to Texas. But not to join Wemby as the most heralded college player of 2025 dreamed of.

With a 1.8% chance, the Dallas Mavericks won the opportunity to get a new generational talent after losing the last one. You bet Mark Cuban was screaming.

A shower could wait. He had to call Patrick Dumant, the current majority owner and governor first. “I’m like, ‘Do you know what just happened?’ And then it kind of dawned on us what it all meant, right? And we’re screaming like two little girls at a Taylor Swift concert, right?”

It’s big when there’s a Taylor Swift comparison. As Cuban said, it was “everything” to Dallas to get this chance after the events following the trade deadline – losing Luka, Kyrie Irving’s injury, Anthony Davis unable to play, injuries, and more injuries.

Unfortunately, the excitement from the draft lottery and draft night didn’t carry forward. The Mavericks started the 2025-26 season with a 4-12 record. The amount of pressure on Cooper Flagg was so much.

While the Flagg family resolutely didn’t show a reaction to the Draft Lottery, the ‘Fire Nice’ chants and the negativity provoked a reaction out of the teen’s mom. Now Nico Harrison’s gone and maybe, just maybe, Cuban can bring back some excitement from that draft lottery back.