The Cooper Flagg sweepstakes is approaching the finish line. On Monday, fans of the 14 teams with the worst records in the NBA will gather around their screens and hope a franchise-changing star will be available with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft this summer.
Flagg has been the consensus best prospect since he reclassified from the 2025 recruiting class to 2024. He played half of his freshman season at Duke at 17 years old. The CBS Sports Player of the Year won’t turn 19 until Dec. 21.
In short? Flagg is the real deal. The term “generational talent” gets overused, but Flagg fits the bill. He is the best American-born NBA prospect since Kentucky’s Anthony Davis. No, he isn’t a better prospect than Victor Wembanyama. There may never be another prospect like the San Antonio Spurs superstar. But if we are talking about the one-and-done era in college basketball, Flagg is near the top of the list.
Ranking the best one-and-done college basketball players of the modern era
Cameron Salerno
The good news for basketball fans (and teams that don’t win a high pick in the draft) is that the 2026 NBA Draft class is full of blue-chip talent at the top. The race for the No. 1 pick will likely come down to three players: BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson and Duke’s Cameron Boozer.
Ahead of the draft lottery, I decided to take on the task of ranking every team by this simple metric. What team needs Flagg the most right now? Who deserves to have the lottery balls fall their way?
Note that this list only has 13 teams because the Sacramento Kings, who hold the 13th-best odds of getting No. 1, owe their first-round pick to Atlanta. Unless it lands in the top four, the Hawks will make the selection because it’s top-12 protected. Without further ado, let’s get started!
Tier I: In…
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