The NBA season is right around the corner and, similar to two seasons ago when multiple teams had their sights on landing Victor Wembanyama, the 2025 NBA Draft will bring out similar tanking tendencies for a handful of teams. Projected at the top of this draft are Duke forward Cooper Flagg and Rutgers wing Ace Bailey — the top two recruits coming out of high school. Both could end up being cornerstone players for rebuilding franchises.
Flagg, 17, was invited to Team USA’s training camp as part of the Select Team and held his own against some of the best talent in the NBA and future Hall of Famers. The 6-foot-9 forward out of Maine — who just signed a multi-year shoe deal with New Balance — is favored to go No. 1 in next year’s draft with his elite rim protection and defensive versatility as well as his point-forward instincts and ability to stretch the floor.
Bailey, who just turned 18, is a pure scorer and has superstar potential with his length at 6-9 and shot creation from all over the court. He has looked fantastic in summer workouts heading into the season, showcasing his athleticism with impressive dunks.
Rounding out the top five draft prospects heading into this season are French guard Nolan Traore, Baylor shooting guard VJ Edgecombe and Rutgers point guard Dylan Harper. For the teams that miss out on Flagg and Bailey, these three players are excellent consolation prizes.
Yahoo Sports takes a look at six NBA teams that could lose a lot of games this upcoming season but come out winners on draft night next June.
The Wizards have a young roster that includes Bilal Coulibaly (the No. 7 pick in 2023), Alex Sarr (No. 2 pick, 2024) and Bub Carrington (No. 14 pick, 2024). Carrington was one of the biggest surprises of Summer League, flirting with a triple-double in his first game, and he’ll likely get plenty of reps and touches offensively during his rookie year. Sarr, the 7-1 center, had a less-than-stellar Summer League showing, going 0-for-15 from the field in one game and struggling offensively overall.
Washington went 15-67 last season and has yet to land a star player after trying to make it work with John Wall and Bradley Beal as the faces of the franchise. The team hasn’t finished a season with a winning record in the past six years and has made the playoffs only 15 times in the past 40 years. It’s been a long drought for Wizards fans, and landing either Flagg or Bailey in the 2025 NBA Draft would bring a much-needed spark to the franchise.
The Nets made it abundantly clear that they are in rebuild mode after trading their star player, Mikal Bridges, for five first-round picks the night before the 2024 NBA Draft. General manager Sean Marks and staff recognize the depth and talent in the next two draft classes and are trying to build from the ground up, in similar fashion to what the Oklahoma City Thunder did in three short years.
Brooklyn was the only team that didn’t have a draft pick in the presumed weaker 2024 draft class and will be relying on Cam Thomas, Cameron Johnson and Nic Claxton this season. Ben Simmons is still around but has been plagued with injuries, logging only 172 total games in the past four seasons, and is far from the franchise star the Nets were hoping he would become. With the Nets collecting draft picks and lacking a veteran star to help them win in a tough Eastern Conference, they could be sitting with a 14% chance to land the No. 1 pick when the draft lottery rolls around next spring.
The Trail Blazers have had a solid start to their rebuilding era after trading away Damian Lillard a year ago. Point guard Scoot Henderson got off to a slow start in his rookie season last year but finished the final stretch on a high note. Portland went 21-61 last season, its worst record in 20 years, but drafted 7-2 center Donovan Clingan with the seventh overall pick in the 2024 draft after he helped lead UConn to back-to-back titles as a sophomore.
The team didn’t really add any veteran pieces in the offseason to speed up the rebuilding process and might be entertaining trade talks for forward Jerami Grant before the season starts. So, the Blazers could elect to let their young players grow as a unit and gain NBA experience while still entering the Flagg-Bailey sweepstakes. Perhaps the basketball gods will favor the shared history between Flagg and Clingan. Their moms, Kelly Flagg and Stacey Clingan, were teammates at the University of Maine. (When Cooper was on his official visit to UConn last fall, he and Donovan wore their mothers’ college jerseys for a photoshoot.) Adding Cooper Flagg to Portland’s front court would form a dream duo that could compete against some of the toughest front lines in the Western Conference.
The Jazz don’t appear to be in complete tank mode after signing Lauri Markkanen to a new long-term deal and adding 36-year-old Patty Mills to the roster. But Utah, which won just 31 games last season, has a roster riddled with youth and could still be looking to shop Walker Kessler in trade talks.
The team drafted Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski in June. All three players are 20 or younger and will be playing alongside three other players the team drafted in 2023: Taylor Hendricks, Keyonte George and Brice Sensabough. Jazz fans trust CEO Danny Ainge’s track record of piecing together championship-caliber teams and may have to continue to be patient.
The Pistons and the Thunder started their rebuild process the same year, and while Oklahoma City is now a title contender, Detroit finished with the worst record in the NBA the past two seasons.
Still, there’s a talented young core of Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson, Jalen Duren and Ron Holland (the No. 5 pick in this past draft). It makes sense to let this group develop, get reps and grow together rather than break things up and bring in veteran players. Especially with what’s coming in the next two drafts. The Pistons can afford to be bad for one or two more seasons in hopes of landing a star to build around.
The Bulls look to be turning a corner. DeMar DeRozan departed Chicago in a three-way trade this offseason. And the team traded Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey (but didn’t manage to pick up any of OKC’s many future draft picks).
Fans are hoping Coby White has a big year, Lonzo Ball is back and healthy (for now), and the team just drafted 6-9 versatile forward Matas Buzelis with the 11th overall pick. There are positives for the Bulls, but it might not be enough to be a playoff team this year and they might make some decisions — the team still owes Zach LaVine $138 million for the three years left on his contract — during the season to put Chicago in a favorable spot to land a top-5 pick next June.