The Mavericks received an unimaginable gift from the basketball gods in the form of the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. John Fanta offers up his top takeaways from the lottery.

The Inquirer was one of 14 media outlets inside the drawing room, where assistant general manager Ned Cohen watched the Sixers move up to the third pick.

Well, the NBA Draft Lottery gods have a sense of humor. So much for the idea of Cooper Flagg going to a 20-win team. Instead, a statistically improbable Dallas Mavericks-San Antonio Spurs-Philadelphia 76ers-Charlotte Hornets top four upended all our previous assumptions about what might happen in the lead-up to the NBA Draft.

Back in 2008, the Chicago Bulls had a slim 1.7% chance of winning the NBA Draft lottery, and lucked into picking Derrick Rose at No. 1 overall. Facing the exact same long odds this year, with the lottery once again taking place in the Bulls' backyard at McCormick Place,

NBA Draft Lottery results sparked strong reactions. Kevin Durant is among those to chime in after a few teams with some of the worst win-loss records fell outside the top three.

McCain was the Sixers' first-round draft pick last season, and quickly blossomed into an early NBA Rookie of the Year frontrunner before tearing his meniscus.

With the draft order now set for the top 14 picks, the NBA turned its attention toward the court at Wintrust Arena on Tuesday to begin analyzing the measurements and skill sets of the 2025 prospects.