How to watch the NBA Draft Lottery: Start time, streaming, odds, Cooper Flagg’s fits

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Outside of the NBA Finals, Monday is the most important date on the 2025 NBA calendar. The NBA Draft Lottery is here, and teams are looking to hit the jackpot.

Duke’s Cooper Flagg represents the jackpot this season, a 6-foot-8 dynamic two-way wing who is among the best prospects I’ve evaluated in the decade I’ve been doing this. With his improved ability to create shots this year from all three levels of the court to pair with dynamic defensive ability, Flagg has a genuine chance to become a top-five player in the NBA at some point in his career. On top of that, he’s also an organizational culture unto himself. He’s among the best competitors I’ve ever scouted among elite prospects. Doing whatever it takes to win basketball games is the only focus on his mind when he’s on the court. On top of that, he’s only 18 years old, meaning a long development runway is coming over the next five-plus years. Given his lack of injury history, two-way approach and dominance at this age, I have Flagg as the second-best draft prospect of the last decade, behind only Victor Wembanyama.

There are 13 teams with a chance to win the Flagg lottery this season. Below, I’ve broken down how Flagg would impact each of those teams if they were to get so lucky as to win the right to select Flagg on Monday night. Their chances of winning the lottery are in parentheses.

How to watch the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery

• Where: Chicago
• When: 7 p.m. ET Monday
• TV: ESPN
• Streaming: Fubo (try for free)

Utah Jazz (14 percent)

How Flagg fits: The Jazz desperately need a centerpiece to build around. They’ve done a good job of accumulating draft capital as they’ve pivoted out of the Donovan Mitchell-Rudy Gobert era, but the return on some of those picks has been questionable. Keyonte George and Isaiah Collier look more like backup guards to me. Taylor Hendricks, unfortunately, went down with a season-ending injury. Kyle Filipowski had a great rookie season but doesn’t look like a star. Only Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler and potentially Filipowski have the look of difference-makers on good teams so far. Flagg would completely change that for the Jazz. They’d have their star to build around for the future, and he’d fit perfectly with Markkanen and Kessler on the court.

Washington Wizards (14 percent)

How Flagg fits: Washington has built the outlines of what could be a terrifyingly good defense at some point once its kids grow up. Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly and Kyshawn George have flashed serious upside on that end. Flagg’s instincts and intensity on defense would only amplify that potential, as he profiles as a terrific defensive player with great help instincts and switchability. He’d also give them the offensive centerpiece that the Wizards currently lack. Bub Carrington and AJ Johnson had interesting stretches last year as rookies, but they need to work on their strength and ability to get paint touches. Flagg would give them another ballhandling shot creator while allowing them to stay big across the backcourt long-term. This would be one of the most fun long-term cores for Flagg to join.

Charlotte Hornets (14 percent)

How Flagg fits: The Hornets need more competitive two-way players on this roster. You can make a case that they have interesting centerpieces in LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller and Mark Williams, but all three are quite poor on defense at this stage. Getting Flagg, whose competitive drive and intensity transformed Duke this year on a day-in, day-out basis, according to the coaching staff, would be massive for general manager Jeff Peterson and the new ownership group that inherited many of the players currently on the roster. It would also give the team another desperately required shot creator who can consistently get paint touches. While Ball is capable of that, he settles too often, and Miller has never been someone who can consistently get rim pressure despite his impressive gifts as a ballhandler and scorer at 6-foot-9. Flagg would give the folks in charge not just the primary centerpiece of the rebuild, but also a pivot out of the current core if they so choose (something that they have at least explored in part, given the failed Williams trade earlier this year).

New Orleans Pelicans (14 percent)

How Flagg fits: Can we really give the Pelicans another major lottery victory after they previously won both the Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson sweepstakes and still have nothing to show for it? The Pelicans are in a transitional phase organizationally, with Joe Dumars taking over from the previous president of basketball operations, David Griffin, this summer. The roster is genuinely interesting, with Williamson still around (albeit injury-prone) and Trey Murphy III and Herb Jones as genuine building blocks on the wing. The team also has Dejounte Murray and C.J. McCollum in the backcourt, but McCollum is a free agent next summer and a prime trade candidate, and Murray will likely miss most of next season recovering from an Achilles injury. Flagg is the obvious pick despite all of that wing depth, but the team would have some decisions to make around him, likely starting with their choice on whether or not Williamson is a long-term part of the organization.

Philadelphia 76ers (10.5 percent)

How Flagg fits: It’s hard to overemphasize the degree to which Flagg is the player the 76ers need on this roster. They have a loaded backcourt with Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain as high-level scorers, both under the age of 25. The tremendous Quentin Grimes trade this deadline gives them a terrific two/three wing to pair next to that duo, assuming they can retain him in restricted free agency, and Paul George is likely in Philly for the next couple of years, given his contract. Hopefully he’s able to rebound from his tough season. More than anything, though, the specter of Joel Embiid’s health hangs over this organization like a festering wound. Can they find the cure for what’s ailing Embiid’s knee and get him back on the court consistently? It’s convenient to forget, but about 18 months ago, Embiid looked like arguably the best player on the planet. Flagg is perfect positionally within their potential long-term starting five as a real playmaking four with size and ball skills, along with monster defensive traits. But more than that, he also gives them a long-term out if they want to move in a different direction from the Embiid era.

Brooklyn Nets (9 percent)

How Flagg fits: The two teams that need a centerpiece more than any other right now are the Nets and Jazz. The Nets look to have found their head coach of the future in Jordi Fernandez, as the team looked genuinely quite competent this year despite fielding a roster that doesn’t exactly have a ton of talent by NBA standards. Cam Johnson is a genuine player to build around, and Nic Claxton worked his way into the season after what felt like a slow start. But I don’t think a single player on this roster should be deemed untouchable in a deal. I’m not sure there is even a starting quality player on the team outside of that duo (with all due respect to Cam Thomas’ scoring exploits, his teams are consistently disastrous with him on the court defensively, in part due to his lack of attention to detail on that end). Flagg would give them a core player they could build around moving forward, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s great with Johnson and Claxton.

Toronto Raptors (7 percent)

How Flagg fits: The Raptors might have the strangest fit for Flagg of anyone in the lottery. They traded for Brandon Ingram at the deadline and have yet to see him play with the team’s core of Scottie Barnes, R.J. Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl. Gradey Dick and Ja’Kobe Walter are also recent first-round picks on the wing who will need to continue earning their roles. But with Ingram, Barnes, Barrett and Quickley, there are many players who already like to play with the ball in their hands. Throw Flagg into the mix, and I think a trade or two would be necessary to find the right mix of talents. But I also don’t think the team has a real No. 1 option that can lead them to a title. Flagg has the potential to be that player, so you absolutely select him and make it work. Having more talent is better than not having enough talent. But it would take some roster construction.

San Antonio Spurs (6.7 percent)

How Flagg fits: The Spurs have both the No. 8 and No. 14 picks in the draft — the 14th pick comes by way of Atlanta from the Dejounte Murray trade last summer — so their odds are a bit higher. Pairing Flagg with Victor Wembanyama in the long term would be a serious problem for the rest of the league. That team would probably become a serious title contender by 2027, especially given that they have recently solved the lead guard problem by acquiring De’Aaron Fox. Flagg would be about as perfect a fit as you can imagine next to Wembanyama, because putting him at the four means they have a long-term answer for how they force centers to guard Wembanyama. Literally all they’d have to do is find two defensively capable shooters, and they’d be fairly unstoppable on both ends. Can the Spurs really get this lucky and continue winning these monumental lotteries, including the Wembanyama and Tim Duncan sweepstakes within the last 30 years?

Houston Rockets (3.8 percent)

How Flagg fits: The Rockets are another team absolutely loaded with young talent. Amen Thompson looks like a future star, and Alperen Sengun is coming off an All-Star berth on top of a strong playoff series against Golden State, even if he needs to continue to improve his finishing on the interior. The one thing I don’t think the Rockets have long-term, though, is a genuine No. 1 offensive option that can lead them to a title. They have all of the assets in the world to go out and acquire one via trade if they don’t win Flagg. But if they do win the Flagg sweepstakes, he might just be the answer that solves the issue. Flagg also fits perfectly with Rockets’ coach Ime Udoka’s style, and his competitive character would work splendidly with the defense-first mindset that the Rockets have built under general manager Rafael Stone.

Portland Trail Blazers (3.8 percent)

How Flagg fits: This would be another somewhat weird fit in terms of roster, but one that would be fairly easy to make work. What I loved about the Blazers’ final two months of the season was how their frontcourt of the future looked settled with Toumani Camara, Deni Avdija and Donovan Clingan. That core trio should provide a serious top-10 defensive infrastructure long-term. Plus, Avdija continues to make significant leaps as a player every season. It wouldn’t be a stunner if he returned as something resembling an All-Star next season, given his leap in the back half of this year. The team also has upside swings in the backcourt in Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe, both of whom are still very young and growing into their games. Flagg would slot right in next to Camara and Avdija, allowing the Blazers to stay massive across the wings due to Flagg and Avdija’s playmaking acumen. If one of the guards hits, this would potentially be a real contender down the road.

Dallas Mavericks (1.8 percent)

How Flagg fits: I don’t know that the Mavericks’ front office deserves to win this lottery after moving Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis. But Flagg would be about as good a fit as you can find with Davis in lineups where the big man plays at either the four or the five. Flagg would give the Mavericks a credible chance to make serious contention waves once Kyrie Irving returns from his injury (assuming he stays in Dallas, given that he has a player option this year), along with a real long-term window to build around with Dereck Lively II.

Chicago Bulls (1.8 percent)

How Flagg fits: Chicago seems to have hit on its most recent lottery pick in Matas Buzelis, and the Josh Giddey trade worked out about as well as it could have. Having said that, the issue for the Bulls now is that they have to make real contractual decisions here moving forward. Giddey is a restricted free agent and could command in the ballpark of $30 million per season this summer. His backcourt mate, Coby White, only has one year left on his deal before restricted free agency. The Patrick Williams long-term deal looks to be a disaster, and they don’t have an answer at center after Nikola Vucevic’s deal expires next summer. The Bulls desperately need a centerpiece, and Flagg would be perfect. He’d also help Buzelis a ton, given that most of Buzelis’ best work this year came off the ball as a cutter.

Sacramento Kings (0.8 percent)

How Flagg fits: The Kings retain this pick if it lands in the top four; otherwise, it goes to Atlanta as part of the Kevin Huerter trade from a couple of years ago. With the Kings looking to pivot out of the De’Aaron Fox era, there would be no better way to do so than to hit the jackpot and get Flagg. There should be real roster reconstruction anyway this summer, given the recent hiring of new general manager Scott Perry and the fact that it’s relatively depressing that the Kings essentially recreated “Play-In Chicago Bulls West” with the pairing of DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine. But there are some pieces here, including All-Star center Domantas Sabonis.

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(Photo of Cooper Flagg: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)

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