From Luka to Cooper. 

Three months after trading Luka Dončić to the Lakers, the Dallas Mavericks won the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes. 

At Monday’s NBA draft lottery, the Mavericks were announced as the team with the No. 1 pick despite just a 1.8% chance to win the lottery. It marked the first time the franchise has moved up in the lottery since the system was first implemented in 1985. The NBA draft is June 25 at Barclays Center. 

Flagg, the presumptive No. 1 pick, dramatically changes the future of the Mavericks. The team was riddled with injuries after Dončić was traded for a package that included Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round pick. The Mavericks were betting on size, putting Davis around Derrick Lively, Daniel Gafford, P.J. Washington, and Kyrie Irving. 

“Defense wins championships,” Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison has repeatedly said since trading Dončić. 

But many believed the Mavericks were banking on a core that is old and injury-riddled, as Davis and Irving both have extensive injury histories. The 18-year-old Flagg joins a team that will immediately contend for a playoff spot and gives the franchise a path to win after the older core has run its course, similar to Dončić. 

Trading the 25-year-old Dončić less than a year after he led the franchise to the NBA Finals led to a fan revolt the likes of which Dallas hasn’t seen in years. Harrison received death threats, Mavericks season tickets were cancelled, and fans rioted in the streets over the deal. Now Harrison has another generational star fall into his lap. 

The Mavericks were 10th among NBA teams in salary this season, with around $173 million. Flagg’s rookie contract, assuming he goes No. 1, will be a four-year deal worth $62.7 million. 

Flagg was named National College Player of the Year and a first-team All-American in his lone year at Duke after averaging 19.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, while shooting an extremely efficient 48% from the field and 39% from 3. Flagg led the Devils to the Final Four before the team fell to Houston. 

The 6-foot-9 forward already has numerous endorsements, notably spurning Nike to sign with New Balance. Flagg hails from Maine and signed with the Boston-based company because of his ties to New England. He wore the shoes growing up. 

Full draft lottery order:

1. Dallas Mavericks

2. San Antonio Spurs

3. Philadelphia 76ers

4. Charlotte Hornets

5. Utah Jazz

6. Washington Wizards

7. New Orleans Pelicans

8. Brooklyn Nets

9. Toronto Raptors

10. Houston Rockets (from Phoenix)

11. Portland Trailblazers

12. Chicago Bulls

13. Atlanta Hawks (from Sacramento) 

14. San Antonio Spurs 

Amazon’s entry into the NBA will include an even bigger lean into its all-important Black Friday.

Building on the streaming and online retail giant’s existing NFL presence on the unofficial U.S. holiday, the company plans to air an NBA primetime doubleheader after an NFL game in the afternoon featuring the Bears at the defending champion Eagles. 

“This is going to be the greatest Friday in sports,” said Charissa Thompson, host for Amazon’s Thursday Night Football, during an upfront presentation in New York to advertisers. The blending of NFL and NBA coverage was further reflected by the company’s announcing teams for both leagues appearing on stage together. 

The heavy dose of sports content also attempts to bring the two main parts of Amazon’s business together, with viewers repeatedly directed to the company’s online shopping. 

“The holiday shopping season stands as one of the most critical stretches of the year for advertisers and retailers looking to attract the massive audiences that congregate around major events,” said Prime Video VP and global head of sports and advertising Jay Marine. “Prime Video has an unparalleled sports lineup during this important period.”

Amazon’s NBA plans also join NBC Sports’ high-tech initiative for the league on Peacock. After the conclusion of the NFL season, Amazon will continue with its Thursday night live sports presence with more NBA doubleheaders in that slot. 

NFL Reveal

Like NBC did early Monday and Fox later in the day, Amazon revealed Monday night its initial NFL broadcast plans, with the Black Friday game, Amazon’s third, joined by the nightcap of a recently finalized Christmas tripleheader will involve the Broncos at the Chiefs. 

The game reveals precede the full release of the 2025 NFL regular-season schedule that will involve a series of critical changes. With the announcements by NBC, Fox, and Amazon, three of the Eagles’ 17 games in their title defense are already known. 

Doc Plans

Amazon, meanwhile, will continue its multiyear run of sports documentary development, unveiling plans to show new films on the NFL’s Jets and former star wide receiver Terrell Owens.

The Home Team: NY Jets is a six-part series that chronicles six Jets players during the 2024 season, mixing between personal and football matters. Developed by Prime Video Sports, Skydance Sports, and NFL Films, the project bears some similarity to the long-running Hard Knocks, but has a more specific focus on a smaller group of players. 

A still-untitled Owens documentary looks at a talent who amassed some of the most prolific statistics in league history, including the third-best receiving yards total behind only Jerry Rice and Larry Fitzgerald, but frequently clashed with the five teams he played for over his career. This project also involves Prime Video Sports, Skydance Sports, and NFL Films.

Fox’s sports streaming strategy is now becoming much clearer.

The network introduced Fox One, its planned subscription-based, direct-to-consumer streaming service that will include live content from Fox Sports and Fox News, as well as entertainment programming. In addition to the flagship broadcast networks, other Fox sports programming that will be part of Fox One will include FS1, FS2, and the Big Ten Network. 

The Fox effort is set to debut ahead of the 2025 pro and college football seasons, a timing very similar to what ESPN projects for its forthcoming DTC effort. 

Fox first disclosed in February its intent to create the streaming service, but now, bearing a name, the plans are beginning to crystallize, particularly as the company has been less active in the ongoing streaming wars. The service will also be made available to existing Fox television subscribers as the company still seeks to protect the linear bundle. Pricing for Fox One hasn’t been announced, but it will be “in line with our wholesale pricing” to linear distributors. 

“Fox One is designed to reach outside the pay-TV bundle and deliver all the best Fox-branded content directly to viewers wherever they are,” said Fox One CEO Pete Distad. 

The Fox One development stands alongside the network’s ad-supported Tubi, which doesn’t often show sports, but made a notable exception in February for Super Bowl LIX, helping fuel a record-setting audience. The arrival of Fox One also follows the prior demise of Venu Sports, involving Fox along with ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery. 

NFL Drop

Fox, meanwhile, made a separate Monday announcement of a late-season Saturday doubleheader after securing a pair of new exclusive broadcast windows. On Dec. 20, the network will show an Eagles-Commanders matchup, as well as a Packers-Bears clash, with the pair of games leaning in to two of the league’s top division rivalries. The Saturday games, arriving after the end of the college football regular season, in part, represent the NFL taking further advantage of openings in the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. 

A similar loophole created the opening for the NFL to play again in Brazil on a Friday in early September. Those four teams could also be part of an expanded Christmas slate in 2025. 

The game reveals follow NBC Sports’s prior announcement Monday of a Sept. 4 kickoff contest between the defending champion Eagles and division rival Cowboys.

Broader Financials

Fox, meanwhile, said it grew its fiscal third-quarter revenue 27% to $4.37 billion, while net income fell by roughly half from a comparable $704 million to $354 million, and free cash flow reached a company record level. The historic Super Bowl audience, averaging 127.7 million, was credited as part of the robust period.

“Engagement at Fox Sports is unmatched in the industry, especially after a solid NFL postseason,” said Fox executive chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch in an earnings call with analysts. “While the sports calendar in our fiscal fourth quarter tends to be quieter, we see strong audience and advertiser demand for our schedule, including NASCAR, the inaugural season of IndyCar on Fox, and the start of baseball season.”

CHARLOTTE — Rory McIlroy arrives at the PGA Championship set to play in his first major as a Masters champion and Grand Slam winner at a course where he has had more success—and won more money—than any other golfer.

McIlroy has won four times at Quail Hollow Club, earning a combined $9.64 million in prize money, which is more than double anyone else’s winnings at the course. 

The course, at Charlotte’s most exclusive private club, has hosted an annual PGA Tour event since 2003, and previously hosted a different PGA Tour tournament from 1969 to 1979. It also hosted the 2017 PGA Championship and the 2022 Presidents Cup.

McIlroy won his first PGA Tour event in 2010 at Quail Hollow, cashing a $1.17 million check just days before his 21st birthday. Contrast that with last May, when McIlroy took home $3.6 million for winning the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, which was a signature event on the PGA Tour with a $20 million purse. He won $1.46 million for his 2021 victory at Quail Hollow and $1.28 million in 2015. 

Defending PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele, who has never won at Quail Hollow, has earned $4.49 million in prize money at the venue, largely thanks to high-paying second-place finishes in 2023 and 2024.

Earlier this season, McIlroy became the second golfer to surpass the $100 million mark in career prize money, joining Tiger Woods. His Masters victory was good for another $4.2 million.

Heading into the PGA Championship, McIlroy’s career earnings stand at $104.92 million. This year’s purse will be revealed later this week, but the 2024 tournament handed out a record $18.5 million, including $3.33 million to Schauffele.

Despite McIlroy’s dominance at Quail Hollow during PGA Tour events, he finished tied for 22nd at the 2017 PGA Championship in Charlotte, earning $89,166.