Race for Cooper Flagg: Which teams are set up to bottom out after the NBA Trade Deadline?

The NBA trade deadline gave teams toward the bottom of the standings one final shot to sell off veteran assets in an effort to make their teams worse. Tanking is not fun, but when the prize on the line is the No. 1 overall pick in an NBA Draft consisting of Cooper Flagg, it isn't hard to see why teams do it.

Flagg is as good of a prospect as we've seen at the collegiate stage in quite some time. Not only is he an elite defender, but he's had an outstanding freshman year at Duke University, averaging 19.5 points per game on 48.6/34.5/80.4 percent splits to go along with 7.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists. Oh yeah, he's doing this as an 18-year-old.

Flagg projects to be a superstar at the NBA level in short order, and can change the trajectory of whichever franchise is lucky enough to win the NBA Draft Lottery.

Knowing this, it becomes more puzzling by the second that the Toronto Raptors elected to trade for Brandon Ingram, a star player, adding him to their 16-win team. They can still luck into drafting Flagg, but assuming Ingram plays down the stretch, they're going to lessen their own odds of drafting the young phenom, which feels like a mistake.

The Raptors potentially playing themselves out of the Flagg sweepstakes makes it even clearer which five teams are set up to end the season with the best odds of landing him.

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5) The Nets would have benefitted from more of an active trade deadline

The goal for the Brooklyn Nets entering the 2024-25 campaign could not have been clearer — they wanted to be front and center in the Flagg sweepstakes. Not only did they trade Mikal Bridges away to the New York Knicks, but they immediately turned around and traded for their own first-round pick back for this season, giving them a chance to rebuild properly.

With the team getting off to a better than expected start, Sean Marks immediately traded veterans Dennis Schroder and Dorian Finney-Smith in an effort to dip in the standings. That worked, but the team is still holding the sixth-best odds for the No. 1 overall pick as of this writing with a record of 17-34.

Refraining from trading Cam Johnson in the midst of a career year for cheap makes sense, and selling low on Nic Claxton in a down year probably wouldn't have been wise, but the Nets, at the very least, could have traded D'Angelo Russell, a veteran on an expiring contract. Russell might not be the All-Star he once was in Brooklyn, but is a player several contending teams absolutely could use. The return wouldn't have been anything special, but the real prize would be depleting the team's record to give them the best shot at Flagg.

Buying Russell out, or even guys like Ben Simmons and Bojan Bogdanovic can help, but with the Nets playing catch-up, they could've used more rebuilding types of moves.

4) The Mark Williams trade helps the Hornets in their bid to pair Cooper Flagg with LaMelo Ball

The Charlotte Hornets, seemingly out of nowhere, traded Mark Williams to the Los Angeles Lakers in a deal that netted them Dalton Knecht and draft capital. Knecht is a solid role player and might impress in a more expanded role in Charlotte, but Mark Williams is a great player Charlotte just got rid of.

The 23-year-old is averaging 15.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game this season. Injuries have limited him to just 23 games, but when healthy, he was their second-best player behind LaMelo Ball with Brandon Miller out for the year. Swapping him out for Knecht makes the team worse right now, especially when guys like Jusuf Nurkic and Moussa Diabate are their best centers.

While the Hornets took a step back, they still are probably more talented, thanks in large part to LaMelo Ball, than the teams above them in the reverse standings.

3) The Jazz missed a golden opportunity to improve their Cooper Flagg odds

The Utah Jazz were incredibly active at the NBA trade deadline with Danny Ainge being unable to resist finding any possible way to add more draft capital, but they refrained from making big moves.

The Jazz, inexplicably, held onto veterans like Collin Sexton, John Collins, and Jordan Clarkson. I can somewhat understand holding onto Sexton and Clarkson given the fact that they each have an extra year of control on their contracts so selling low wouldn't make too much sense, but John Collins could easily be gone after the year.

The 27-year-old, in the midst of his best season in years, has a $26.5 million player option for next season. Chances are, with how he has played, he'll decline that option, making it a very real possibility that the Jazz kept a good player on their roster in a time they should be losing and failed to get anything for a player who might be wearing another uniform in the matter of months.

The Jazz are not a good team, obviously, but they could have gotten worse. Their decision not to could come back to haunt them.

2) The Brandon Ingram-less Pelicans are in a great spot down the stretch

The New Orleans Pelicans have been among the worst teams in the NBA all season, but fans had reason to expect them to play themselves out of the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes when the team finally got healthy. Well, Dejounte Murray ruptured his Achilles and the Pelicans traded Brandon Ingram. All of a sudden, their talent has taken a massive hit.

The Pelicans do have guys like Zion Williamson, CJ McCollum, Trey Murphy, and Yves Missi, but how healthy can we expect those guys to be down the stretch based on what we've seen this season? At 12-39, the Pelicans are currently the second-best team in the reverse standings.

The team getting substantially worse within the last week should only help them in their Flagg pursuit. This would be an incredible outcome, with New Orleans not expecting to have been in this race at all prior to the season.

1) The Wizards have built themselves a cushion in the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes

The Washington Wizards are playing their best basketball of the season and have a season-high three-game winning streak to show for it. That three-game winning streak improved their record to 9-41 on the season - the worst mark in the NBA.

The Wizards did acquire veterans who can conceivably help them win games in Khris Middleton and Marcus Smart, but how much help can they really give to the league's worst roster?

Middleton is in the middle of his worst season in a decade and has dealt with a slew of injuries in recent years. Smart was struggling so mightily to the point where the Grizzlies — a team in contention in the Western Conference — attached a first-round pick just to get rid of his contract. These players can help mentor this young team, but they probably won't help them win too many games, if they even remain in town at all.

The Wizards have a 2.5-game lead over the Pelicans for the lottery's top odds, and probably got worse on deadline day thanks to the departures of guys like Kyle Kuzma and Jonas Valanciunas.