2025: The Cooper Flagg NBA Draft Lottery
Later, there were coin flips between the worst team in the East and the worst of the West to determine the team to gain the rights to the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. But the Houston Rockets changed everything when they somehow maneuvered to select College Player of the Year Ralph Sampson (1983) and the great Hakeem Olajuwon(1984) in consecutive drafts.
Starting a year later, the NBA Draft Lottery was introduced, and the prize was Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing, a franchise player, who went to the New York Knicks. There have been other franchise players – some call them generational talents and others call them transformational players. Let’s list just a few with the teams and years they were drafted:
- 1985 – Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks
- 1987 – David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs
- 1992 – Shaquille O’Neal, Orlando Magic
- 1996 – Allen Iverson, Philadelphia 76ers
- 1997 – Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs
- 2002 – Yao Ming, Houston Rockets
- 2003 – LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
- 2023 – Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
Purposely left off the list above are the No. 1 picks in the NBA Draft Lottery era from Duke University:
- 1999 – Elton Brand, Chicago Bulls
- 2011 – Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers
- 2019 – Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans
- 2022 – Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic
That’s not a bad list of No. 1 picks from Duke, but there’s another player on the line this year, and he might – just might – be destined for the transformational player category, a true franchise man and a player who will make everyone around him much better.
Cooper Flagg, a 6-foot-9, 225-pound 18-year-old with one collegiate basketball season under his belt, leading Duke and garnering every Player of the Year honor in the nation, is destined for greatness as the No. 1 pick of the 2025 NBA Draft.
Yes, the conspiracy theorists are already dreaming up reasons for Flagg to be channeled to some NBA franchise in need. Here are the odds for this year’s event:
1. Utah Jazz: 14%
2. Washington Wizards: 14%
3. Charlotte Hornets: 14%
4. New Orleans Pelicans: 12.5%
5. Philadelphia 76ers: 10.5% – The Sixers’ first-round pick is top-6 protected; if it falls between 7-14, it will go to Oklahoma City
6. Brooklyn Nets: 9%
7. Toronto Raptors: 7.5%
8. San Antonio Spurs: 6%
9. Phoenix Suns: 3.8% – The Suns’ first-round pick will go to Houston
10. Portland Trail Blazers: 3.7%
11. Dallas Mavericks: 1.8%
12. Chicago Bulls: 1.7%
13. Sacramento Kings: 0.8% – The Kings’ first-round pick is top-12 protected; if it falls out of that range, it goes to Atlanta
14. Atlanta Hawks: 0.7% – The Hawks’ first-round pick will go to San Antonio
*Take that 0.7% and add it to the Spurs’ 6%, and San Antonio has a 6.7% chance of drafting three consecutive NBA Rookies of the Year.
While we all hesitate to put the pressure on and place Cooper Flagg in the same sentence as Larry Bird, truth be told, Flagg is much more like Larry Bird than he is Uwe Blab. Flagg does not score the ball anywhere near as well as Bird did, nor is it expected he can turn a franchise around completely the way Bird transformed the Boston Celtics, and he was 23 years old as a rookie (compared to Flagg being 18).
Remember, the Celtics’ records before and after Bird joined the club?
- 1978-79 – 29-53 (10th in East) – (Before Larry Bird)
- 1979-80 – 61-21 (1st in East)
- 1980-81 – 62-20 (NBA Champions)
Of course, Bird worked with a team and frontline reconstructed by GM Red Auerbachto add Bird to rookie power forward Kevin McHale and veteran center Robert Parish. And, as the great Charles Barkley famously quipped when questioning Bird’s ability to make ‘everyone around him better,’ – “Who’s it easier to make better? Kevin McHale or Shelton Jones?”
At 18 years of age, Flagg plays the game with an ease and ability to move and pass the ball on offense – almost in an Earvin “Magic” Johnson manner, rather than Bird. Flagg rebounds and defends at a rate higher than most collegiate senions, nevermind freshmen. At times, he’d create viral video highlights or posterize his opponent, but regularly, he’d score within the basic flow of the game, make big plays and passes while helping his teammates out on defense. Flagg’s game translates to the pro game but it will take two or three years for him to mature, grow and strengthen his body to compete at the highest level.
Flagg is joining an NBA with immensely talented players, many long/lengthy 6-8, 6-9 frames with the wingspan of a 747 and jumping ability of Darnell Hillman (look him up). Bird joined a much more physical, big man dominated league (think NY’s Marvin “The Human Eraser” Williams-Bill Cartwright or even Washington’s Elvin Hayes-Rick Mahorn-Jeff Ruland style players).
Neither era is better or worse, easier or harder to adjust to coming from the 30+ game college season to the 82+ playoff grind of the NBA. Time, coaching, maturity and a complementary teammate pool determines success in the NBA. But surely Flagg is destined for success, no matter which NBA team he ends up playing for in 2025-26.
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday did a little double duty in the NBA Awards category this season. On May 1, Holiday was named the recipient of the 2024-25 NBA Sportsmanship Award and won the Joe Dumars Trophy. The veteran guard became the first member of the Boston Celtics to win the award since its inception in 1995-96. On Wednesday, the NBA announced Holiday was named the 2024-25 NBA Social Justice Champion and will receive the Kareem Abdul-JabbarTrophy. Holiday was selected from a group of five finalists for pursuing social justice and advancing Abdul-Jabbar’s life mission to engage, empower and drive equality for individuals and groups who have been historically disadvantaged. Finalists for the award were Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Harrison Barnes (San Antonio Spurs), Chris Boucher (Toronto Raptors) and CJ McCollum (New Orleans Pelicans).
WHATEVER YOU NEED: From the moments after Tristan Casas barreled down the first base line, clipped the leg of Minnesota Twins first baseman Ty France and tumbled down, rupturing his left patellar (knee) tendon, the Boston Red Sox were contemplating the best fix for the line-up. The immediate answer was to insert RomyGonzalez, a competent batsman who was already seeing time at 1B. A longer-range plan was to consider having 2025 designated hitter Rafael Devers take reps at first, thus allowing manager Alex Coro to fill the DH position depending on player availability and need.
When Spring Training began, the Red Sox asked Devers to “take one for the team” and shift from his usual third base position to DH, in order to place the golden glove fielding Alex Bregman at the hot corner. Undoubtedly, Bregman is a better fielder than Devers, but the elder mainstay of the Sox turned ornery upon hearing of the plans.
On Thursday afternoon, after the Red Sox blanked the Texas Rangers, 5-0, the topic of switching Devers to 1B surfaced yet again. And when Devers was asked if he was upset over the inquiry, he responded in Spanish, “Sí, claro.” – (Yes, of course).
Through Boston’s Spanish-language translator Daveson Perez to a group of reporters, Devers said, ““They’ve told me I’m a little hard-headed. [But] they already asked me to change once, and this time, I don’t think I can be as flexible. I don’t feel that they stayed true to their word. They told me that I was going to be playing this position, DH, and now they’re going back on that. So I just don’t think they stayed true to their word,” Devers repeated.
“I don’t understand some of the decisions that [Craig Breslow] makes. Next thing you know someone in the outfield gets hurt and they want me to play in the outfield. I think I know the kind of player that I am, and that’s just where I stand.”
THIS JEST IN: In addition to the locker drama created this past Thursday when Devers aired his point of view on a 2024-25 switch from 3B-to-DH-to-1B, the veteran said, “In Spring Training, they talked to me and basically told me to put away my glove and I wasn’t going to play any other position but DH.”
So much for the “Oh, put me in, coach, I’m ready to play today. Put me in, coach, I’m ready to play today, look at me (yeah), I can be centerfield” approach. (Apologies to John Fogerty).
To help resolve the situation, Red Sox principal team owner John Henry flew to Kansas City to join the team on its current road trip.
TIDBITS & NUGGETS: As is customary in this space, the good people of SPORTICO have graced the sports industry with a fine list of the 50 most valuable soccer teams in the world. Here’s a Top 10 taste (All in billions of the US Dollar):
- Real Madrid – $6.53
- Manchester United – $6.09
- FC Barcelona – $5.71
- Liverpool – $5.59
- Bayern Munich – $5.21
- Manchester City – $5.16
- Arsenal – $4.49
- Paris Saint-Germain – $4.26
- Tottenham Hotspur – $3.68
- Chelsea – $3.57