Sometimes, losing has its positives, especially when it comes to professional sports.
Every season, across the four major American sports, teams with the worst regular-season records end up with the best odds to earn a high pick in the subsequent draft.
Enter Cooper Flagg.
Whichever NBA squads sputter the worst from now until the spring will increase their chances of drafting the Duke star with one of the top picks in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Let’s check out the odds at FanDuel Sportsbook for which team will land Flagg, as of April 21.
Which Team Will Draft Cooper Flagg?
Wizards: +550 (bet $10 to win $65 total)
Hornets: +550 (bet $10 to win $65 total)
Jazz: +550 (bet $10 to win $65 total)
Pelicans: +650 (bet $10 to win $75 total)
76ers: +800 (bet $10 to win $90 total)
Nets: +950 (bet $10 to win $105 total)
The Wizards, Hornets and Jazz are atop the oddsboard, and it makes sense why.
Utah finished with the worst record in the league at 17-65, followed by Washington at 18-64 and Charlotte at 19-63.
But, as mentioned, there is a silver lining.
Flagg has long been considered a shoo-in to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, and on Monday, he officially announced he’s entering the draft. At Duke, in 37 games, Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks.
In terms of the draft lottery, the three worst teams in the league each have a 14% chance to land the No. 1 pick. The fourth-worst team has a 12.5% chance and the fifth-worst team has a 10.5% chance.
Sadly for Utah and others, recent history has not been kind to the league’s worst team in terms of picking No. 1.
Last year, Atlanta selected No. 1 despite making the play-in tournament and having just a 3% chance to land the pick.
The team with the worst record in the NBA, the Pistons, picked fifth.
In 2023, the Spurs had the second-worst record and picked first. Detroit had the worst record and picked fifth.
The last time the team with the worst record in the NBA won the draft lottery was in 2018, when the Phoenix Suns finished 21-61 and then selected Deandre Ayton with the top pick.
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