When the New York Lottery is held, there isn’t always a winner. When the NBA holds its Draft Lottery, there has to be one. This year it was a stunner as the Dallas Mavericks, who had only a 1.8% chance, got the No. 1 pick. They were the biggest long shot to get the top pick in the history of the Draft Lottery.

And Wednesday night they got the payout.

The Mavericks surprised absolutely no one when they selected Duke superstar Cooper Flagg to kick off the 2025 NBA Draft at Barclays Center.

“I don’t think it’s set in yet. It feels surreal,” Flagg said. “I’m just playing the moments back in my head, standing up, hearing my name, and it went so fast. It feels like a blur . . . Obviously I’m antsy, I’m anxious. I wanted to get going. I was working out the whole time. I was excited to get this process over with. But at the same time it’s a dream come true.”

Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists as a freshman last season and helped the Blue Devils reach the Final Four. He closed the season as the consensus national Player of the Year.

He is going from a great situation at Duke to a potentially great one with the Mavericks, who lost to the Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals and narrowly missed the postseason this year after trading star Luka Doncic.

There are question marks about the team — most notably the health of Kyrie Irving as he recovers from a ruptured Achilles — but Dallas could have the pieces for a very successful season. Flagg will be playing on a squad that could have Irving, Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson and Dereck Lively II alongside him.

“I think my mindset has always been to be a winner anywhere I go,” Flagg said. “So I’m looking forward to being successful, and, you know, winning a lot of games.”

Flagg was one of three Blue Devils freshmen to go, as expected, in the first 10 picks. Kon Knueppel went at No. 4 to Charlotte. Khaman Maluach, went at No. 10 to Houston, but he is part of the Kevin Durant trade and will start out with Phoenix.

If one is looking for surprises, the Nets were the ones to watch. They came into the night with five first-round picks and were thought to be looking at trading up from No. 8. But they didn’t and took BYU’s 6-8 freshman point guard Egor Demin.

A 19-year-old from Russia, some have identified him as the best teenage passer around, however he is not an accomplished shooter. He averaged 10.6 points and 5.5 assists for the Cougars this season.

“Obviously the passing is something that I was always doing and this is who I am,” Demin said. “This is who I’m trying to be. I believe in the game of basketball as a creative place where it’s like art for me and I want to play beautiful. I want to play pretty. I want to play efficient . . . It’s about making the right decision, which I’m always trying to do.

“I have no doubt I’m going to be a solid shooter,” he added. “I’m seeing myself as a really good shooter in the future, just because I know how much I will] put into this to become one.”

In the end, the Nets actually came out of the draft with five rookies. They took French guard Nolan Traore with the No. 19 pick and North Carolina freshman guard Drake Powell, who scouts say could become an elite defender, with the No. 22 pick. The Nets added Ben Saraf, an Israeli point guard, with the 26th pick and Michigan 7-footer Danny Wolf at No. 27. Wolf showed great ball skills with the Wolverines and with Yale before that.

Rutgers guard Dylan Harper was selected No. 2 by San Antonio, which was also expected. 

Harper on Tuesday said that if the Spurs took him, he believed it was a good situation based on what he experienced when he worked out for them.

“I talked to Stephon Castle a couple of times and a few other people over there and they’re all cool,” he said. “It looks great and a fun environment to be a part of.”

Baylor star freshman VJ Edgecombe, the two-time Newsday Long Island Player of the Year while playing for Long Island Lutheran High, was chosen by Philadelphia with the No. 3 pick.

Rutgers’ Ace Bailey went to Utah with the No. 5 selection. A lot of eyes were on him because he was viewed as a likely top 3 pick at the end of the season, but canceled every team workout that was scheduled, including one in the last week with the 76ers. It had the look of trying to orchestrate his destination.

“I’m glad it’s over — I’m ready to play some basketball now,” he said. “It’s just been a great journey. Me working hard, pushing myself physically and mentally, just getting prepared for the next level.”

As to how Dallas should play Flagg, ESPN NBA Draft analyst Jay Bilas said Tuesday, “You play him anywhere you can. He’s kind of like a queen on a chessboard because he can guard multiple positions, he’s super athletic, he’s long, got a really good second jump, he’s got court awareness.”

“He’s not a player that goes into a game and people know he’s going to go for 25,” Bilas added. “What he does is he tries to make the right play right now. And by stacking the right play over and over again, at end of the game he may have 25 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, two steals and three blocks. You can talk about reasonable expectations, but with this guy, I don’t know why you have to be reasonable.”