Too Good To Tank: 3 Teams Took Themselves Out of the Cooper Flagg Sweepstakes (2024)

Although the stakes don’t feel quite as high as the 2023 NBA Draft headlined by Victor Wembanyama , incoming Duke freshman Cooper Flagg is the kind of player to give teams pause when considering tanking.

Seemingly talented enough to turn the fortunes of a franchise, there’s a lot of conversation about which team will be lucky enough to land the potential superstar.

Among the top contenders, however, are a few teams that have firmly taken themselves out of the running for the top pick, whether that be by their play or offseason moves. Here is a look at three teams who are too good to tank for the chance to land next year’s top overall pick.

San Antonio Spurs

Off-season additions give San Antonio and their superstar too long a runway to tank

While the San Antonio Spurs entered last season as an underdog with a promising new prospect in Wembanyama, they’re entering this season as a team retooled around their young superstar.

Not only did Wembanyama exceed expectations for a rookie, he exceeded expectations while being one of the most highly-touted rookies ever. Aside from averaging an impressive double-double, he was also named to the All-Defensive first team, led the league in blocks per game and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. And, of course, took home the Rookie of the Year award.

While the Spurs could coast on Wembanyama’s raw potential alone, they’re making moves that seem to be setting them up as a potential future powerhouse in the west. This off-season, they made two additions that should make a big impact in Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes .

While the Paul move is getting a lot of attention, due to the dynamics his playmaking can bring to the team, the addition of Barnes could also be a major plus for them.

Though Barnes is past his prime, he’s still been a part of a championship team in the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors . Both the play and playoff experience of these players could end up being exactly what the young group in San Antonio needs to take the next step as a team.

Speaking of the young group of players they have, San Antonio is sitting on a bevy of young talent. Keldon Johnson , Devin Vassell , Jeremy Sochan and Tre Jones are all players who, although not seeming to have the highest ceiling, can contribute to a winning team if given the right guidance.

Not to mention, they also drafted one of the most NBA-ready prospects in this year's class, Stephon Castle .

For these reasons, the Spurs have set themselves up for a trajectory-changing season. A trajectory that will, inevitably, take them out of the running for next year's coveted first overall pick.

Utah Jazz

Re-signing Markkanen lowers chance of tanking season

The Utah Jazz , in the process of shifting to a rebuild, acquired Lauri Markkanen in the trade that sent Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland. Markkanen, for his part, played much better than anticipated as a member of the Jazz.

While they could have opted to move Markkanen for younger players and draft picks, as he’s 27 years old and in his prime, Utah chose to give Markkanen a five-year, $238 million contract with no option for a trade until next season. While this would typically be a cause for celebration among Jazz fans (as locking up one of the league’s most productive players is almost always a plus), it left Utah in a bit of an awkward spot.

Markkanen is clearly (at least currently) their best player. Besides him, the Jazz’s primary players include the likes of Jordan Clarkson , Walker Kessler , Collin Sexton and Keyonte George .

Those guys are all talented. But they are too far removed (whether younger or older) from their prime for Utah to be able to fully utilize their synergy.

They also did well in this year's draft, adding both Cody Williams and Kyle Filipowski on their roster. While this sort of team construction doesn’t lend itself to championship aspirations, it does insinuate a certain level of success.

A certain level of success, barring major injury or setback, that would take them firmly out of the conversation for the top overall pick in next year's draft.

Whether they play similarly in terms of output to last season (as seems most likely) or they end up exceeding expectations, the Jazz set themselves up for a season too successful to land the coveted Flagg.

Houston Rockets

A strong finish to last season among a talented core seems too good to be the league’s worst

The final team that seemed primed for a first overall pick before taking themselves out of the running is the Houston Rockets . Although, unlike the previous two teams, Houston has done so primarily with their play, rather than any offseason additions or extensions (although they did still make an excellent addition).

Finishing last season with a crisp 41-41 record, they had a number of caveats that make next season much more promising than one would think.

Their record was low enough to grant them a high draft pick this season, which they used to add collegiate-star Reed Sheppard out of Kentucky. Sheppard looks like one of the best pure scorers in this draft and, even if his role is limited, should still be able to increase Houston's overall production.

Aside from the potential of a new rookie to impact the team in new ways, the Rockets also have a core of players with very sound play. Between the talented young pairing of Jalen Green and Alperen Sengün , and the veteran presence of Fred VanVleet , the team has multiple players who can positively impact winning in a myriad of ways.

While Green has the athleticism, explosiveness and scoring ability to develop into a special kind of player, Sengün plays with the awareness and poise of someone 10 years his senior.

Their potential for being a better team poked through at the end of last season, in which they seemed to turn a new leaf as a unit. It just happened to be too late to make a push to the postseason.

That, combined with the steady presence of VanVleet (as well as the safety net he should provide for Sheppard as he develops), should both create a solid environment for Sheppard to flourish, and firmly take the Rockets out of the running for the top overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Stats courtesy of Basketball Reference.