- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 474,541
- Reaction score
- 45
On the night of the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery, it's time we recklessly speculate about former Duke superstar Cooper Flagg's potential future.
Some teams, as our Charles Curtis writes, have much better odds than others of securing Flagg. Also, there are some rather intriguing fits for Flagg's talents, like him going to Philadelphia to play alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. But we haven't looked at the flip side of this discussion.
What if Flagg, like some top prospects before him, ends up in NBA No Man's Land with an incompetent organization? What if he goes to a team that doesn't need another draft lottery win? It doesn't feel like either outcome is something the league could survive.
From a fit and unfair perspective, let's break down the worst landing spots for Flagg before we find out where he's likely headed officially on Monday night.
How much more can the NBA's draft lottery reward the Pelicans?
In the last decade-plus, they already had chances at Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson. Look where both of those picks got them. Davis is long gone, Williamson might soon leave himself, and New Orleans has still never left NBA Purgatory. This franchise shouldn't get another crack at a purported future All-NBA talent.
After a surprising run to a top-three playoff seed two years ago, the Kings have shown they are still the KANGZ. De'Aaron Fox is in San Antonio. Domantas Sabonis has seemingly lost his edge. And Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan clearly didn't work in Chicago, but the Kings bet on them anyway, for some reason. Flagg is an undeserved life vest for this broken franchise, which would probably only sink slowly into the abyss with them.
There's a distinct possibility that Flagg might be the player to finally pull the Hornets out of the rut they've never left. His joining a nucleus that features Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball on paper seems promising. But regardless of how special Flagg might be, nothing about Charlotte's fraught history as an organization suggests it has the chops to build a necessary winning culture around such high-level talent.
Does Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf even want to win? Everything about how the Bulls have operated for years now suggests they are happy with meaningless play-in berths that help them sell tickets to a fanbase desperate for relevance and 1990s nostalgia. The Reinsdorfs do not deserve a godsend like Flagg because they would assuredly only use him as a meal ticket without ever truly supporting him.
If the Mavericks won this lottery after unthinkably trading Luka Dončić, the NBA's resident conspiracy theorists would never shut up again. It would be very hard not to see it as a brazen gift from the league for "playing along," even though it'd just really be how the ping pong balls shook out. Plus, I have no interest in seeing veterans Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving stunt Flagg's needed early development by inherently limiting his offensive touches. That fit feels so silly on paper.
Sorry, Dallas. Blame Nico Harrison.
The Spurs already won the arguably most consequential drafts in NBA history when they received the rights to Tim Duncan and Victor Wembanyama decades apart. Now, they'd get a SECOND incredible prospect in three years? Even if they wound up flipping Flagg in a potential trade (like for Giannis Antetokounmpo), how is that fair? That is apocalyptic for the league's landscape. I would pick literally any other franchise involved in this draft lottery for Flagg because they could use and deserve him a lot more than the generationally lucky Spurs.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Worst Cooper Flagg destinations in the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery
Continue reading...
Some teams, as our Charles Curtis writes, have much better odds than others of securing Flagg. Also, there are some rather intriguing fits for Flagg's talents, like him going to Philadelphia to play alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. But we haven't looked at the flip side of this discussion.
What if Flagg, like some top prospects before him, ends up in NBA No Man's Land with an incompetent organization? What if he goes to a team that doesn't need another draft lottery win? It doesn't feel like either outcome is something the league could survive.
From a fit and unfair perspective, let's break down the worst landing spots for Flagg before we find out where he's likely headed officially on Monday night.
6. New Orleans Pelicans
You must be registered for see images
How much more can the NBA's draft lottery reward the Pelicans?
In the last decade-plus, they already had chances at Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson. Look where both of those picks got them. Davis is long gone, Williamson might soon leave himself, and New Orleans has still never left NBA Purgatory. This franchise shouldn't get another crack at a purported future All-NBA talent.
5. Sacramento Kings
After a surprising run to a top-three playoff seed two years ago, the Kings have shown they are still the KANGZ. De'Aaron Fox is in San Antonio. Domantas Sabonis has seemingly lost his edge. And Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan clearly didn't work in Chicago, but the Kings bet on them anyway, for some reason. Flagg is an undeserved life vest for this broken franchise, which would probably only sink slowly into the abyss with them.
4. Charlotte Hornets
You must be registered for see images attach
There's a distinct possibility that Flagg might be the player to finally pull the Hornets out of the rut they've never left. His joining a nucleus that features Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball on paper seems promising. But regardless of how special Flagg might be, nothing about Charlotte's fraught history as an organization suggests it has the chops to build a necessary winning culture around such high-level talent.
3. Chicago Bulls
Does Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf even want to win? Everything about how the Bulls have operated for years now suggests they are happy with meaningless play-in berths that help them sell tickets to a fanbase desperate for relevance and 1990s nostalgia. The Reinsdorfs do not deserve a godsend like Flagg because they would assuredly only use him as a meal ticket without ever truly supporting him.
2. Dallas Mavericks
You must be registered for see images attach
If the Mavericks won this lottery after unthinkably trading Luka Dončić, the NBA's resident conspiracy theorists would never shut up again. It would be very hard not to see it as a brazen gift from the league for "playing along," even though it'd just really be how the ping pong balls shook out. Plus, I have no interest in seeing veterans Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving stunt Flagg's needed early development by inherently limiting his offensive touches. That fit feels so silly on paper.
Sorry, Dallas. Blame Nico Harrison.
1. San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs already won the arguably most consequential drafts in NBA history when they received the rights to Tim Duncan and Victor Wembanyama decades apart. Now, they'd get a SECOND incredible prospect in three years? Even if they wound up flipping Flagg in a potential trade (like for Giannis Antetokounmpo), how is that fair? That is apocalyptic for the league's landscape. I would pick literally any other franchise involved in this draft lottery for Flagg because they could use and deserve him a lot more than the generationally lucky Spurs.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Worst Cooper Flagg destinations in the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery
Continue reading...
