The NBA’s competitive landscape hung in the balance during a potential lottery apocalypse on Monday night. The Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs found themselves as the last two teams standing for the rights to Cooper Flagg on the TV broadcast.

The Chicago Bulls, like Atlanta, are nowhere near close enough to meaningful contention to justify moving a back-end-of-the-lottery pick for a role player. Instead, they should be taking as many bites at the draft apple as possible to see who jells with a budding core that includes Josh Giddey, Matas Buzelis and Coby White.

Kurt Helin, Raphielle Johnson and Noah Rubin wrote up their picks for the 2025 NBA Draft after the Mavericks won the draft lottery on Monday night.