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The 2024 NBA Draft lacked excitement from the very start of the cycle due to the absence of a consensus No. 1 overall player. The 2024 class wasn’t terrible, but it always felt more like a role player draft than one with future franchise cornerstones. The fact that this was the draft that immediately followed Victor Wembanyama’s class made it seem even more underwhelming.
As the NBA turns the page to next season, draft hype is set to hit overdrive once again. Cooper Flagg, an incoming freshman forward at Duke, is one of the strongest No. 1 overall picks to hit the league in my decade-plus covering the draft. The hype for Flagg only got louder after he dominated a scrimmage against the USA Basketball team for the 2024 Paris Olympics at only 17 years old. He may not have alien-like physical tools like Wembanyama, but his ability to contribute to winning at both ends may eventually be nearly as impactful.
With a true franchise talent at the top of the 2025 NBA Draft, a number of have already started tearing down their rosters in hopes of getting lucky in the lottery. The team that lands Flagg will have one of the best long-term building blocks in the NBA moving forward. Check out our first 2025 NBA mock draft and our elite high school player rankings from last year for more on what makes Flagg so special. These are the teams that start the season in the mix for the NBA’s next big thing.
Preseason favorites to land Cooper Flagg in 2025 NBA Draft — aka the worst teams in basketball
Brooklyn Nets
The Nets pivoted to a full rebuild just in time to get in the Flagg sweepstakes. Brooklyn traded its best player (Mikal Bridges) to its crosstown rival, and required its own future draft picks (originally traded for James Harden in 2021) in a surprising deal with the Houston Rockets. The Nets have a clear direction, and that direction is to be as bad as possible. There are a few more talented players who still need to be dumped — Cameron Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, and even Dennis Schroder shouldn’t get too comfortable — but everyone inside the Nets seems to be on the same page. This team has a two-year window to tank before Houston has swap rights in 2027, and that means they need to maximize their chances to get Flagg now.
Washington Wizards
The Wizards’ rebuild is still years away from bearing fruit. No. 2 overall pick Alex Sarr has plenty of long-term potential in the front court, but his summer league struggles proved that he won’t help Washington win many games this year. Kyle Kuzma is one of the most obvious trade candidates in the league entering the season, and there will be a market for Corey Kispert too if the Wizards want to deal him. This is going to be maybe the single worst team in the league because of the backcourt. Jordan Poole is still here for some reason, while first-round pick Bub Carrington is going to be one of the youngest guards in the NBA. The Wizards did add a couple veterans in Macolm Brogdon and Jonas Valanciunas, but neither is going to move the needle that much. This team stinks, and it needs Flagg so, so badly.
Portland Trail Blazers
The Trial Blazers are set to be terrible for the fourth straight year, and look like the worst team in the West by a wide margin. Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant are very good players in the prime of their careers, but the future of the franchise is more tied to its previous three lottery picks: Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson, and Donovan Clingan. Henderson’s rookie year was a major disappointment, and any uptick in production from him would usher in some much needed positive momentum. Still, the Blazers have a history of brazen tanking after the All-Star break, and it’s hard to believe that strategy will change with Flagg at the top of this draft. Even after three straight top-7 picks, Portland still lacks a franchise player, and Flagg could be the guy that helps everything fall into place.
Second tier of bad NBA teams
Detroit Pistons
The Pistons made a bunch of changes over the offseason, hiring J.B. Bickerstaff as their new head coach, signing Tobias Harris, trading for Tim Hardaway Jr., re-signing Simone Fontecchio, and taking a flier on Malik Beasley. There’s finally some real NBA shooters on this roster now, but the growth of the team will ultimately be decided by its existing young core led by Cade Cunningham. The Pistons have some talent, but they also only won 14 games last season. Even if they add 10-15 wins, they will still firmly be in the Flagg zone.
Utah Jazz
Yes, the Jazz re-signed star forward Lauri Markkanen, and now can’t trade him until the summer of 2025. That move alone won’t prevent them from being one of the worst teams in the West. Utah has one of the youngest rosters in the league, with Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks, Isaiah Collier, Cody Williams, Kyle Filipowski, and Brice Sensabaugh all potentially figuring into the rotation as players entering their first or second years in the league. Will Hardy is an awesome head coach, but I have a feeling the directive from the Danny Ainge-led front office will be to get in the mix for Flagg late in the season. Don’t be fooled by the Markkanen extension: the Jazz are going to be very bad.
Chicago Bulls
The Bulls had the best clutch luck of any team over the last decade a year ago and still only won 39 games. Chicago traded its two best players over the offseason in DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso, and is now set for a soft reset ahead of a strong draft. The Bulls’ big addition over the offseason was Josh Giddey, a player who won’t help fix the shooting woes that have plagued this team over recent years. Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic are still around until another team decides to take a chance on their bloated contracts. Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu are solid NBA players, and Patrick Williams can develop into one if he’s healthy, but it’s still hard to see the Bulls as anything other than an Eastern Conference bottom-feeder. Chicago’s 2025 draft pick is owed to San Antonio if it falls outside the top-10, which should be all the motivation it needs to prioritize draft position at the end of the season.
Charlotte Hornets
The Hornets could be interesting this year … if LaMelo Ball stays healthy. Ball only played 22 games last year and just 36 games the year before that. He’s been one of the best young guards in the league when he’s actually on the floor, but that hasn’t happened much. Charlotte has a second young star now in Brandon Miller as he enters his sophomore season, and this could very well become his team. If Charlotte wants to climb into the play-in territory, it will also need from its big man room led by Mark Williams. With Josh Green, Miles Bridges (yuck!), and Grant Williams around, there are some decent connective veterans here. I wouldn’t be shocked if the Hornets make a run at the No. 8 seed, but they’re one Ball injury away from being terrible once again.
Cooper Flagg darkhorse teams
San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs are getting some praise for their offseason, but I don’t get it. The best they could do was 39-year-old Chris Paul, Harrison Barnes, and one rookie who can’t shoot when they entered the draft with two top-8 picks? San Antonio should have been poised for a big leap behind Victor Wembanyama, but it seems like he still doesn’t have enough help. The Spurs should be pushing to win big right now, but instead they seem content to possibly pivot into another tank if Wembanyama gets hurts for a stretch, or if the supporting cast flatlines. San Antonio also owns the Atlanta Hawks’ unprotected first-round pick, which gives them multiple shots at No. 1.
Toronto Raptors
The Raptors didn’t want to do a full teardown, and are now stuck in the dreaded no-man’s land with some decent talent on the roster but no path to real competitiveness. Scottie Barnes is a great young cornerstone, and R.J. Barrett and Immanuel Quickley are solid players, but there’s just not a lot of upside on this roster. The Raptors would have been better off taking draft picks for OG Anunoby and trying to build through the draft. Right now, this team looks pretty directionless.
