Jazz considered the team that could use top pick and Cooper Flagg the most

March 31, 2025

There will be plenty of candidates to win the NBA Draft lottery and the rights to Duke star Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 overall pick. But perhaps no team needs Flagg more than the Jazz, wrote Zach Kram of ESPN.

“In each of the past two seasons, the Utah Jazz remained competitive for more than half of their schedule before tanking at the end of the season,” Kram wrote. “As a result, they picked ninth and 10th, respectively, in the past two drafts and didn’t land a franchise cornerstone.

“So this season, they started to tank early — and were fined for violating the league’s player participation policy — and now they’re almost guaranteed to have the best lottery odds.”

In other words, the Jazz are positioning themselves to have the best shot at capturing the Flagg (assuming he does, in fact, declare for the NBA draft).

Not a bad idea, given that the Jazz are, you know, fairly desperate these days.

“Utah has a greater need for Flagg than any of the other teams jostling for a superior lottery position,” Kram wrote. “The Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets are still early in their rebuilds, while the Charlotte Hornets already have a potential dynamic duo in LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. Plus, the New Orleans Pelicans and Philadelphia 76ers should be competitive again next season with better health.”

That basically leaves Utah.

“But the Jazz traded Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert three years ago, and they’re still stuck without a young star to build around. Flagg would fill that void,” Kram wrote. “And though the Duke freshman would be a great fit for any team in the lottery, he’d look particularly potent in Utah, forming a dominant defensive front line with Walker Kessler and partnering with another big, skilled forward in Lauri Markkanen.”