Which NBA Teams Need Cooper Flagg Most?

The 2025 NBA Draft is set to inject the league with even more talent, starting with Duke superstar Cooper Flagg, who’s slated to hear his name called first on draft night.

At 6-foot-9 with a two-way skillset and Final Four appearance on his resume, Flagg is the grand prize of the draft, and each and every team in the lottery will be looking to land his talents. But a select few are actually in true need of the combo forward, posting sub-20 wins or without much hope for the future.

Here are three teams who could most use the No. 1 pick this year:

Washington Wizards

Washington’s made a few lottery selections under their new regime — Bilal Couliably, Alex Sarr second overall and Bub Carrington. But they’ve yet to have the opportunity to gamble on true star power.

Flagg provides this in leagues, and would immediately raise both the floor and ceiling of a team like Washington.

The Wizards have a shared highest chance at landing Flagg, but will need more luck than they’ve seen the last two years.

Charlotte Hornets

The Hornets are quickly becoming one of the league’s worst situations, owning a swath of win-now talent with a mix of youth, but nothing that’s translating to wins in a medium Eastern Conference.

LaMelo Ball has missed extensive time in his short career, and while they have intriguing other young prospects, there’s simply not much direction at the moment.

Flagg — who fits in nicely size-wise — would immediately add a winning element in Charlotte, filling a real need as a defensive-minded forward, while simultaneously taking offensive pressure off of others. 

Brooklyn Nets

The league’s freshest rebuilding team, the Nets have yet to make a single pick in their new era, and seem to have an uphill battle ahead of them.

They’re truly a fresh slate in terms of roster construction, but seem to be angling to add a star on the market here in a few years, meaning any prospects they draft will need to be ready to hit the ground running. And Flagg, as the obvious best and most polished player in the class, fits that bill.

They didn’t offload enough win-now talent to land decent odds, sitting with just the sixth-best currently, so they’ll need some luck on lottery night.