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LeBron James reacts to Dallas Mavericks winning 2025 NBA Draft lottery, rights to Cooper Flagg

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones05/12/25brianjones_93
LeBron James
Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

LeBron James had a strong reaction to the Dallas Mavericks getting the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft lottery and earning the right to select Cooper Flagg. After the announcement, James went to X/Twitter and posted nine laughing/crying emojis, likely indicating his disbelief at the outcome.

The reason James had this reaction is the Mavericks got the No. 1 pick after trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. LeBron James is happy to have Doncic on the Lakers, but the Mavericks took a lot of heat from their fans for trading away a generational player who helped the team reach the NBA Finals last year.

James’ comment came nearly two months after he shared his thoughts on the NBA Draft. While appearing on The Pat McAfee Show in March, James hinted that some strings were pulled to have the Cleveland Cavaliers select him at No. 1 in the 2003 draft.

More on LeBron James and the Dallas Mavericks

“I knew there was a responsibility for sure,” James said. “Listen, man. During the ball drop. During the lottery drop. Cleveland got the No. 1 pick? I just don’t think that was — … Let’s keep LeBron home. Patrick Ewing to the Knicks. Derrick Rose to the Bulls. I understand the assignment, guys. I had to make sure that, you know, I had to do my part. I didn’t want to be a f*ck up.”

The Mavericks only had a 1.8 percent chance of winning the draft lottery. Now they have a chance to get back on top of the NBA mountain when they add Cooper Flagg to the roster.

“For us, it’s been a rough year as you all know,” said four-time NBA All-Star Rolando Blackman, who represented Dallas at the draft lottery, per ESPN. “But the important part of the whole thing is that we’ll get a chance to move our franchise forward. We have a tremendous staff and management. The important factor for us is to being able to continue in that tradition and to be able to move forward. It’s really a great honor, and it’s an important piece of the puzzle because we’ve been wanting hoop down in Dallas.