NBA Tank Watch: 6 teams competing for Cooper Flagg and Ace Bailey in the 2025 draft

The NBA season is upon us, and much like two seasons ago when several teams targeted Victor Wembanyama, the 2025 NBA Draft will see similar tendencies fail for a handful of teams. Expected to top that draft are Duke forward Cooper Flagg and Rutgers wing Ace Bailey – the two best recruits coming out of high school. Both could prove to be cornerstones 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 NBA’s brightest talents and future Hall of Famers. The 6-foot-1 forward from Maine, who just signed a multi-year shoe deal with New Balance, is considered the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft because of his superior basket defense and defensive versatility, as well as his point-forward instincts and ability to stretch the court.

Bailey, who just turned 18, is a real scorer and has the potential to be a superstar with his 6’1″ frame and shot creation from anywhere on the court. He looked fantastic in summer workouts earlier this season, showing off his athleticism with impressive dunks.

This season’s top five draft prospects are French guard Nolan Traore, Baylor shooting guard VJ Edgecombe and Rutgers point guard Dylan Harper. For teams that miss out on Flagg and Bailey, these three players are an excellent consolation prize.

Yahoo Sports takes a look at six NBA teams that could lose a lot of games next season but emerge as winners at the draft next June.

The Wizards have a young roster that includes Bilal Coulibaly (No. 7 pick in 2023), Alex Sarr (No. 2 pick in 2024) and Bub Carrington (No. 14 pick in 2024). Carrington was one of the biggest surprises of Summer League, flirting with a triple-double in his first game and will likely get plenty of reps and touches on offense in his rookie year. Sarr, the 7-1 center, had a less than stellar Summer League performance, hitting 0-of-15 from the field in one game and struggling overall on offense.

Washington finished 15-67 last season and has yet to sign a star player despite trying to make it work with John Wall and Bradley Beal as the faces of the franchise. The team hasn’t finished a winning season in the last six years and has only made the playoffs 15 times in the last 40 years. Wizards fans have been through a long losing streak and signing Flagg or Bailey in the 2025 NBA Draft would give the franchise some much-needed momentum.

The Nets have made it clear they are in rebuilding mode after trading star player Mikal Bridges for five first-round picks on the eve of the 2024 NBA Draft. General manager Sean Marks and his team recognize the depth and talent of the next two draft classes and are looking to build from the ground up, much like the Oklahoma City Thunder did in just three years.

Brooklyn was the only team without a draft pick in the likely weaker 2024 draft class and will rely on Cam Thomas, Cameron Johnson and Nic Claxton this season. Ben Simmons is still around but has been plagued by injuries and has played just 172 games over the past four seasons. He is far from the franchise star the Nets hoped for. With the Nets stockpiling draft picks and lacking a veteran star who could help them win in a tough Eastern Conference, they could have a 14 percent chance of getting the first pick in next spring’s draft lottery.

The Trail Blazers have made 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 sign any veteran players in the offseason to speed up the rebuilding process and could enter transfer talks for forward Jerami Grant before the season begins. So the Blazers could opt to let their young players grow as a unit and gain NBA experience while still being in the Flagg-Bailey sweepstakes. Perhaps the basketball gods will be kind to Flagg and Clingan’s shared past. Their mothers, Kelly Flagg and Stacey Clingan, were teammates at the University of Maine. (When Cooper officially visited UConn last fall, he and Donovan wore their mothers’ college jerseys at a photo shoot.) Signing Cooper Flagg to Portland’s frontcourt would create a dream duo that could hold its own against some of the toughest front lines in the Western Conference.

The Jazz don’t appear to be completely in relegation 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 full of young players and could still try to trade Walker Kessler in transfer talks.

The team drafted Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski in June. All three players are 20 or younger and will play in 2023 alongside three other players the team drafted: Taylor Hendricks, Keyonte George and Brice Sensabough. Jazz fans trust CEO Danny Ainge’s track record of putting together championship-caliber teams and may need to continue to be patient.

The Pistons and the Thunder began their rebuilds in the same year, and while Oklahoma City is now a title contender, Detroit finished the last two seasons with the worst record in the NBA.

Still, there’s a talented young core of Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson, Jalen Duren and Ron Holland (the No. 5 pick in last year’s draft). It makes more sense to let this group develop, gain experience and grow together than to break things up and bring in experienced players. Especially given what’s coming in the next two drafts. The Pistons can afford to be bad for another season or two in hopes of getting a star to build around.

The Bulls appear to be on the mend. DeMar DeRozan left Chicago in a three-way trade in the offseason. And the team traded Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey (but failed to secure one of OKC’s many future draft picks).

Fans are hoping Coby White has a successful year, Lonzo Ball is back and healthy (for now), and that the team just signed versatile 6-foot-1 forward Matas Buzelis with the 11th overall pick in the draft. There are positives for the Bulls, but it might not be enough to make the playoffs this year, and they could make some decisions during the season – the team still owes Zach LaVine $138 million for the remaining three years of his contract – that put Chicago in a favorable position to land a top-5 pick next June.