Three NBA Teams Who Most Need Cooper Flagg

With a surge in recent weeks, Duke’s Cooper Flagg has officially established himself as the top prospect in the class.

Coming in at just 17, Flagg was already considered to be the future No. 1 pick, but a slow offensive start, mixed with the elite play of Rutgers Dylan Harper, put that somewhat in jeopardy. In his last handful of games though, the Blue Devil's forward has come alive on the offensive end while maintaining his status as one of the best defenders in the class.

Now, it seems only a matter of time before he hears his name called first on draft night ’25.

As it stands now, there’s a variety of teams silently waging war for the best odds at the No. 1 pick. Here are three teams who could stand to add Flagg to their ranks more than others:

Washington Wizards

The Wizards have been the worst team in the league so far this season, owning just six wins with 33 losses. They sit 2.5 games below the next-best team, and its roster simply doesn’t seem capable of seeing a turnaround in the coming months.

Aside from the fact it’s cruising to the 14% chance at Flagg, it could also stand to add some star-level talent to the roster. So far in its rebuild, the Wizards have taken shots on Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr and Bub Carrington, who are all likely to end up strong two-way role players, but don’t necessarily pack the same punch Flagg brings.

The forward would immediately infuse the roster with more potential, and would likely raise both the floor and ceiling of the Wizards immediately.

Brooklyn Nets

Having offloaded Dennis Schroder and Dorian Finney-Smith in the last month, the Nets are finally and officially choosing to increase its odds at a better 2025 draft pick. And that was woefully apparent in the team’s 59-point loss to the Clippers a few nights ago.

Once it offloads even more win-now talent, this Brooklyn roster will be a blank slate to add top draftees to, and Flagg would fit into that well.

Should he be drafted to Brooklyn, Flagg would immediately become the No. 1 most important player in the organization, and would have an unlimited leash to develop in head coach Jordi Fernandez’ system. For now, the Nets lack a clear direction, but if they were to land the top prize in the upcoming draft, they’d have it.

Utah Jazz

Even more than Brooklyn, the Jazz have towed the line between rebuild and being competitive for years now, taking shots on a variety of prospects while still maintaining a win-now core comprised of Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton and more.

Luckily for the franchise, the team sits at 10-30, and for now share the 14% chance at the No. 1 pick.

If the Jazz were to land Flagg, they could finally press the reset button, focusing on its first blue chip prospect in some time and opting to trade off the rest of its win-now core. The 2026 NBA Draft is also already shaping up to be a solid one, and now could be the time for Utah to finally enter a new era.

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