So, you’re looking back and wondering exactly when the ping-pong balls bounced and shifted the entire landscape of the league. It happened on Monday, May 12, 2025.
That evening in Chicago, a bunch of nervous executives in expensive suits sat in a room at McCormick Place, staring at a plastic machine. Everyone was there for one reason: Cooper Flagg. The Duke phenom was the undisputed prize, the kind of "generational" talent that makes GMs lose sleep. Honestly, the atmosphere was thick with a mix of desperation and hope, especially for the teams that had spent the last several months essentially racing to the bottom of the standings.
When is NBA Draft Lottery 2025 and Where Did It Happen?
The 2025 NBA Draft Lottery took place on May 12, 2025, starting at 8 p.m. ET. While the results were televised on ESPN for the world to see, the actual drawing of the numbered balls happened in a private room just before the broadcast.
Chicago has basically become the permanent home for this event. It’s centrally located, and it coincides with the NBA Draft Combine, which also kicked off in the Windy City that same week (running May 11–18). It’s a weirdly clinical process for something that determines the fate of multi-billion dollar franchises. Fourteen balls, numbered 1 through 14, are placed in a drum. They pull four balls to create a combination. There are 1,001 possible combinations, and 1,000 of them are assigned to teams based on their records.
If you had the worst record, you had 140 combinations. If you were the 14th team, you maybe had five. It’s math, but it feels like magic—or a curse, depending on who you ask.
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The Odds That Defied Logic
Going into the night, the "Big Three" of the tanking world were the Utah Jazz, the Washington Wizards, and the Charlotte Hornets. They each walked in with a 14% chance at the top pick.
But the lottery doesn't care about your rebuilding plan.
In a twist that nobody—and I mean nobody—saw coming, the Dallas Mavericks took the top spot. They only had a 1.8% chance. To put that in perspective, you’re more likely to find a four-leaf clover on your first try than the Mavs were to land that pick.
The room went silent when the envelopes were opened. This wasn't just a win for Dallas; it was a franchise-altering moment following their massive mid-season shakeup where they sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers. Landing Cooper Flagg was the ultimate "get out of jail free" card for a team that looked like it was heading for a decade of mediocrity.
The Full 2025 Lottery Results
People forget that only the top four picks are actually "lotteried." After the first four are drawn, the rest of the teams just fall into place based on the inverse of their regular-season records.
Here is how the top 14 eventually shook out after the dust settled in Chicago:
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- Dallas Mavericks (Jumped from 12th)
- San Antonio Spurs (Jumped from 8th)
- Philadelphia 76ers (Stayed relevant in the top 6)
- Charlotte Hornets (Slipped from the top 3)
- Utah Jazz (The biggest losers of the night, falling from the best odds)
- Washington Wizards (Another slide for a team that needed a win)
- New Orleans Pelicans
- Brooklyn Nets
- Toronto Raptors
- Houston Rockets (via Phoenix)
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Chicago Bulls
- Atlanta Hawks
- San Antonio Spurs (via Atlanta)
The Jazz and Wizards falling to 5 and 6 was brutal. You could see the air leave the room for those front offices. San Antonio, meanwhile, just keeps getting lucky. After landing Victor Wembanyama the previous year, they jumped up to number two. The idea of Dylan Harper or Ace Bailey pairing with Wemby? That's just unfair to the rest of the Western Conference.
Why This Specific Lottery Mattered So Much
Usually, there's a debate about who should go number one. In 2025, there was none.
Cooper Flagg was the sun that every team was orbiting. He’s 6'9", can guard all five positions, and plays with a mean streak that scouts haven't seen in a teenager in a long time. But the depth of the 2025 class was also a major talking point. Even if you missed on Flagg, players like V.J. Edgecombe and the Rutgers duo (Harper and Bailey) were considered "franchise-level" pieces.
The 76ers were also in a weird spot. Because of previous trades, their pick was top-six protected to the Oklahoma City Thunder. If they had slipped to 7th, they would have lost the pick entirely. By landing at 3rd, they kept a cornerstone player to pair with their aging core. That one bounce of a ball basically saved the Sixers' championship window from slamming shut.
Beyond the Lottery: The Two-Night Draft
The lottery was just the preamble. The actual 2025 NBA Draft took place over two nights on June 25 and 26, 2025, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The NBA moved to this two-day format to give teams more time to breathe (and to sell more ad space, let's be real). Round 1 happened on Wednesday, and Round 2 followed on Thursday. It’s a much better experience for the players in the second round, who used to get picked at 1 a.m. when half the crowd had already gone home to sleep.
The Mavericks didn't overthink it. They took Flagg at number one, and the rest is history.
If you're tracking how these players are performing now, keep a close eye on the minutes. The gap between the "lottery talent" and the mid-first-rounders in this specific year has proven to be much smaller than the "experts" predicted.
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What to do next:
If you're looking to dive deeper into the 2025 class, start by reviewing the advanced defensive metrics for the top five picks. Cooper Flagg’s "stocks" (steals + blocks) in his first month of professional play are already breaking records for rookies. You should also check the trade clauses for the 2026 picks, as several teams (like the Nets and Jazz) have already started stockpiling assets for the next cycle based on how the 2025 lottery shook out.