The Chicago Bulls didn't have much lottery luck

The Chicago Bulls didn't have much lottery luck on Monday night, as their pick held steady at No. 12 overall. Chicago should be able to select a strong player

The Chicago Bulls didn't have much lottery luck on Monday night, as their pick held steady at No. 12 overall. Chicago should be able to select a strong player in a very deep NBA Draft with that pick, but they obviously could've gotten much luckier with the ping pong balls. The team with the 11th-best odds, the Dallas Mavericks, won the right to select Cooper Flagg by improbably winning the No. 1 overall pick.

The Bulls and the Mavericks both finished with identical 39-43 records and lost in the NBA Play-In Tournament, so the two had a coin flip to decide who would be higher in the lottery odds. Dallas won the flip and came into Monday night in that No. 11 spot — eventually leading them to the No. 1 pick.

Incredibly, this is not the first time that this has happened to the Bulls. All the way back in 1979, the Bulls lost a coin flip for the pick that ended up being Magic Johnson.

Of course, missing out on Magic Johnson would end up working out for Chicago, as it would select Michael Jordan with the No. 3 pick in the draft a few years later. Now, Bulls fans will be hoping that similar luck will be brought to a franchise that has been stuck in mediocrity ever since Jordan left nearly 30 years ago.

Still, missing out on a prospect as good as Flagg due to a coin flip will be a tough pill for the Bulls to swallow. Chicago has an interesting variety of quality young players, but it is missing a true blue-chip talent to bring it all together. Flagg is one of the most well-rounded prospects to come out of college in recent memory, and he would have immediately filled that gap for the Bulls.

Someone with Flagg's ability to affect the game on both ends of the floor, handle the ball and defend nearly anyone in the league would have been a huge addition to the Bulls.