Capture the Flagg?
Perennially rebuilding Wizards desperately need some rare good fortune in Monday's NBA draft lottery.
Associated Press photo
It’s been years since the Washington Wizards played a truly meaningful basketball game.
They haven’t posted a winning record since 2017-18 and have made the NBA playoffs just once in that time (a first-round loss in the COVID-abbreviated 2020-21 season). Their last appearance in a conference final series came in 1979, the league’s longest drought by far.
Monday night offers the franchise’s first real opportunity for excitement in nearly a decade — and unless you believe in lucky charms, the Wizards have no control over their fate.
The annual NBA draft lottery offers Washington a legitimate chance at its first franchise-altering draft pick since John Wall in 2010 or Bradley Beal two years later. This year’s prize is Duke freshman forward Cooper Flagg, who — with apologies to Victor Wembanyama — is arguably the most anticipated rookie since LeBron James arrived way back in 2003.
Along with Utah and Charlotte, the Wizards have the best odds (14 percent) of getting the No. 1 overall pick and the rights to Flagg, who has been wowing scouts since his performance against the eventual champion U.S. Olympic team in last summer’s training camp.
Nothing is guaranteed, but Flagg seems capable of immediately helping whichever struggling team he joins. He just turned 18, and his combination of size (6-foot-9), skill, basketball IQ and competitiveness are all off the charts. His defensive prowess particularly would bolster a Washington team that has ranked at or near the bottom of the NBA for the past decade, including 29th this season.
NBADraftRoom.com likens Flagg to Scottie Pippen. High praise indeed, and even if he’s 60 percent as good as Pippen, it’s a huge upgrade for the Wizards.
Let’s be clear: Landing Flagg wouldn’t automatically make the Wizards a playoff team. They’re still in deep rebuilding mode after going a combined 33-131 over the past two seasons, and aside from past-their-prime veterans Khris Middleton and Marcus Smart, they don’t have a player most casual fans could name.
That’s largely because their recent drafts yielded very little return. They traded away first-round picks Rui Hachimura (2019) and Deni Avdija (2020), who have become productive elsewhere. Johnny Davis, chosen No. 10 overall in 2022, has played just 112 NBA games in three seasons, averaging a scant 3.5 points.
Under a new administration, Washington’s last two drafts have brought in some young players with potential: the versatile Bilal Coulibaly in 2023 and Alec Sarr, Bub Carrington and Kyshawn George last summer. Still, even in a week Eastern Conference, the Wizards are light-years away from sniffing a spot in the play-in round, let alone the actual playoffs.
Flagg could accelerate that process, though — and give the Wizards their first real drawing card since Wall and Beal teamed up more than a decade ago. Initially, he’d be a bigger help at the box office than on the court.
And by all accounts, there’s a precipitous dropoff after the first pick. The potential Nos. 2 and 3 selections, Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, are talented but couldn’t even team up to help Rutgers post a winning record in the rugged Big Ten last season. Texas’ Tre Johnson can score but can’t defend. The reverse holds true for Baylor’s V.J. Edgecombe.
According to reports, the Wizards were one ping-pong ball away from getting the No. 1 overall pick and the rights to the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama two years ago. That would have altered the franchise’s trajectory — although Wemby’s Spurs have yet to make the playoffs in two seasons, and he’s recovering from a deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder that cut short his second pro season.
After years of largely self-inflicted wounds and misfortune, maybe the Wizards are due for some good luck Monday night. If they get it, at least they’ll be interesting for a change. If not, it may take another decade before they’re relevant again.