Capture the Flagg: Which NBA teams have the best shot at landing the No. 1 pick?

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The NBA trade deadline is in the rearview mirror. The All-Star break is nigh. For teams chasing postseason glory, there is plenty of regular season left to finetune.

For the rest of the NBA? It’s high time to Capture the Flagg.

Cooper Flagg is the 18-year-old Duke phenom and the consensus No. 1 overall pick at this juncture of the season. The two-way star should still be in high school and yet can reasonably claim to be the best player in college hoops, averaging 19.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists for one of the top teams in the nation. The only NCAA player with a better Box Plus-Minus than Flagg is Auburn’s fifth-year senior Johni Broome, who is older than Alperen Şengün.

The NBA has tried to curb outright tanking for prospects like Flagg. Beginning in 2019, the league office capped odds at landing the No. 1 pick at 14 percent for the bottom three teams, removing the incentive to win the race to the bottom of the bottom.

But there are plenty of intriguing scenarios that will make the draft lottery must-see TV.

The best team in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder, could land the No. 1 overall pick. So could Victor Wembanyama’s club in San Antonio.

To see how, let’s take a dive into the lottery situation with about 30 games to go for each team. The strength of schedule data comes from Positive Residual’s handy metric that accounts for rest days, game location, altitude and team strength.

(Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

THE FIVE FLAGG FAVORITES

Washington Wizards (own pick)

Current Record: 9-44 (Tied No. 1 in lottery odds)

Current No. 1 odds: 14.0%

Remaining SOS: .447 (2nd-easiest)

A quick stroll down memory lane. Remember in 2020, when the Washington Wizards sent John Wall and a 2023 first-round pick to the Houston Rockets for Russell Westbrook? Thank goodness the Wizards slapped some 2025 protections on that pick, because otherwise, this wouldn’t be theirs to select.

The first-round pick sent in that trade has not been conveyed because it was 1-14 protected in 2023, 1-12 protected in 2024 and 1-10 protected this year. The pick switched hands a couple times — the New York Knicks currently hold…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/capture-the-flagg-which-nba-teams-have-the-best-shot-at-landing-the-no-1-pick-171506711.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2025-02-12 17:15:00

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