Mavericks ignite Cooper Flagg era with surprising hype-filled gesture

Weeks of anticipation finally came into fruition last night when the Dallas Mavericks selected Cooper Flagg No. 1 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft. This marked the first time in Mavericks history where the organization had moved up in the draft lottery, as fans were decked out in shirts that said "1.8" on them to commemorate Dallas' 1.8 percent chance at landing Flagg and the top pick this year, as the Mavericks hosted a draft watch party inside the American Airlines Center.

While some "Fire Nico" chants broke out a little bit, fans were overall excited to ring in a new era together with Flagg coming in, and the Mavericks clearly were too, as they already unveiled Flagg's jersey number at this event and made his jersey available for retail purchase right away. Letting a No. 1 pick choose his jersey number isn't uncommon practice, but it's surprising the Mavericks nailed this down so fast and made his jersey available for purchase just moments after he was drafted, and they clearly must've already asked Flagg what number he wanted when he came in during his pre-draft visit.

Flagg will return to his high school number, No. 32, as No. 2 is held by fellow former Duke Blue Devil Dereck Lively II, and as much priority as the Mavericks are giving Flagg, he probably didn't want to snatch someone else's number that he reveres which is completely understandable, as the Mavericks may have not let that happen anyways.

Mavericks locked in Cooper Flagg's No. 32 jersey long before draft night

If everything goes according to plan, Flagg will make his mark in Dallas with this new number as Luka Doncic once did when he sported No. 77 for the first time, and it's ironic both players came to Dallas having to switch jersey numbers from their previous stop (Doncic with Real Madrid, Flagg with Duke).

It's also noteworthy the Mavericks didn't make Doncic's jersey readily available moments after he was drafted in 2018, but Dallas did already have the foresight Flagg would 100 percent be coming to them in this draft which probably gave them time to plan for something like this, whereas that wasn't the case with them having to trade up to the No. 3 pick to snag Doncic in 2018.

The Mavericks hosted the only previous No. 1 pick in franchise history at this event, Mark Aguirre, as Aguirre was a guest spokesperson leading up to the draft and got emotional after having been removed from the franchise for so long. It was great to see Aguirre reconnect with fans and be embraced by fans after he was shipped to Detroit in the 1980s, and Aguirre gave Mavericks fans his vote of confidence when it came to Flagg as well.

The Mavericks put on an awesome event with this draft party, and it helped set the precedent for a new era of Dallas basketball, but the Mavericks could still be on the clock for day two of the NBA Draft as well. Even though the watch party is over and Flagg is officially a Maverick, the Mavericks can still trade into the second round or make another move this evening, so keep your eyes peeled for if the Mavericks insert themselves into the action tonight.