Insane Team USA display from Cooper Flagg changes Wizards approach this season

The Washington Wizards were always going to tank this season, but after watching Cooper Flagg dominate a recent Team USA scrimmage, they should try to lose even harder.

Flagg was named to the Team USA Select team, a group of players assembled to scrimmage against the Olympic team in Las Vegas during training camp. The 17-year-old forward is slated to play for Duke next year.

Almost every single 2025 mock draft has Flagg going first overall next year. He is widely viewed as the best prospect in next year’s class and is a generational talent.

Wizards should tank even harder after watching Cooper Flagg dominate Team USA scrimmage

At 6-foot-8, Flagg already has an NBA body, and while he was competing against LeBron James, Joel Embiid, and the rest of Team USA, he was completely dominant.

In one of their scrimmages, of which video got posted all over social media, Flagg looked like one of the best players on the floor. If he already looks better than some of the best NBA players, just imagine what he could look like a year from now.

With the way Flagg played in the scrimmage, lower-tier teams around the league should be doing everything they can to ensure that they are the worst team in the NBA.

That includes the Wizards. Washington isn’t going to make a push for the Play-In Tournament next year, so they should do everything they can to tank as effectively as possible.

For Washington, that means trading Kyle Kuzma. That probably means trading Corey Kispert. That means leaning into their youth movement earlier on in the season. That means accepting the fact that they won’t be a great team throughout the year.

If the Wizards can get Flagg on their team heading into next year, they could potentially roll out a lineup of Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George, Cooper Flagg, Bilal Coulibaly, and Alex Sarr.

That would be an elite young core moving forward.

With how great Flagg looked the other day, the Wizards should be doing everything they can to make sure that they are one of the three worst teams in the NBA next year.

They were already going to tank, but now, their tanking plans need to be send into overdrive.