Hours before, Bill Simmons said the Dallas Mavericks winning the NBA Draft Lottery would be a travesty. However, back in March, the longtime NBA reporter had an idea of what could happen.
In an X (formerly Twitter) post by The Ringer's official account, they recounted when Simmons predicted the Mavericks to land the draft pick.
The Mavs may have had just a 1.8% chance to win the NBA draft lottery, but @BillSimmons saw this coming back in March. 🔮 pic.twitter.com/fZk7nNH0NR
— The Ringer (@ringer) May 13, 2025
On Monday, that manifestation came to fruition. Now, Dallas has the opportunity to draft likely No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg. Still, it doesn't make much sense how Simmons saw this coming.
After all, the franchise had a less than 2% chance of securing the draft pick. Not to mention, once they acquired that pick, it left social media buzzing.
Plenty of folks have thought that the process is rigged. However, after commissioner Adam Silver changed the lottery rules, it hasn't rewarded teams that are actively tanking.
No matter what, landing the No. 1 pick after trading away franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic seems too bad to be true. There are no ramifications for the move that set the city metaphorically on fire.
Either way, Simmons's prediction is one that many fans didn't want to see come true.
Bill Simmons called the Mavericks getting the No. 1 pick
Since Simmons's shot was resurfaced, many are conspiring that the NBA was behind the move. After all, the Mavericks traded Doncic for Anthony Davis, and that was about it.
While players like Max Christie were thrown into the deal, they didn't receive much draft compensation for it. So many of the rumors have been that the NBA itself conspired to make a trade like this happen.
There's not a ton of evidence for that claim, but folks are clinging to it for dear life.
However, the opportunity to have general manager Nico Harrison's dream team is quite literally a dream come true. He has the defensive prowess of Anthony Davis and Daniel Gafford in the frontcourt.
In the backcourt, Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson can run the show.
Lastly, inserting Flagg into that lineup can give them an offensive and defensive spark. It can provide them with versatility at nearly every position.
At the end of the day, Simmons's thoughts about the NBA draft lottery felt too bad to be true, until it was true. No matter what, Dallas has another franchise cornerstone coming to the city in Flagg.
The changing of the guard for franchise players won't be an overdue process. It's appearing to happen rather quickly.