The Washington Wizards have seemingly geared themselves up all season to make a push for the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.
At one time, the Wizards had a league-worst record and seemed poised to be the top pick in the draft. And with Duke standout Cooper Flagg seemingly set to headline this upcoming draft class, multiple teams and fanbases envied Washington. Not for their losing record, but the fact that the team seemed to have the best odds to land the generational talent.
However, the Wizards have quietly put themselves in a bad position to turn this dream into a reality over their recent stretch of wins as they now trail the Utah Jazz in the race to earn the top pick.
At first, it seemed like the Wizards young team and the front office seemingly lost focus on the bigger picture as they blew the lead in the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes, but perhaps Washington is thinking outside of the box.
Wizards could be making a sneaky move
Over the last couple of months, rumors have swirled that Flagg and his team had no interest in being selected by the Wizards or the Charlotte Horents. In fact, the freshman sensation hinted at a return to the Blue Devils for his sophomore season a couple of times, but as of now, his future between declaring for the NBA Draft or returning to Duke has yet to be decided.
Of course Flagg and his team haven't publicly stated their lack of desire to land elsewhere at the next level, but with all signs pointing to a disinterest in being a cornerstone for the Wizards, it may be pointless for Washington to push for the top pick.. at least for now.
As mentioned above, the Jazz currently hold the top odds to land the No. 1 overall pick now with their recent struggles surpassing the Wizards at the bottom of the league. And while that may not seem impotant, perhaps it could be in the future.
Flagg is a major Boston Celtics fan as he was born and raised in Maine. Obviously Utah is nowhere close to Maine, but the Jazz have the luxury of Celtics legend Danny Ainge running things for them. If Flagg truly is considering a return to the college just to avoid landing with the Wizards, maybe the chance to land with the Jazz and play for Ainge could entice him to officially declare.
If that were the case, the Wizards could position themselves to send a kings ransom to the Western Conference squad to make a push for Flagg after he officially declared, especially if Utah has Dylan Harper or Ace Bailey ranked close to the ACC product.
Obviously this scenario is far fetched, but it's worth wondering if there is more to the story behind the Wizards sudden stretch of winning.