Wizards’ worst nightmare? Cooper Flagg poised for college return if WAS lands top pick

The Washington Wizards struggles this season have been hard to watch.

Not only have the Wizards struggled to stack wins on the court, but the team has had issues finding any form of consistency throughout the year. In a rebuilding year, nobody expected Washington to be in contention for the postseason, but it seems fair to say that the team putting together historically one of the worst seasons in history wasn't on our bingo cards.

The team brought back Jordan Poole, they started the season with veterans like Kyle Kuzma and Jonas Valanciunas supporting the team's young core. In addition, their offseason addition Malcolm Brogdon seemed poised to be a decent boost off the bench in his role as the team's sixth man.

However, following a horrid start to the season, general manager Will Dawkins opted to completely reshape Brian Keefe's roster ahead of the NBA trade deadline bringing in a new mixture of veterans to surround the team with. Regardless of that, fans of the Wizards have already looked beyond this season with the hopes that the team would secure the No. 1 overall draft pick this offseason.

Washington currently sits at the bottom of the NBA with a league-worst 11-49 record. The Wizards seem poised to land the top pick in the draft, but the reason fans and the team were okay with earning the No. 1 pick was to have the lucury drafting one of the most generational talents in recent memory, Cooper Flagg.

And while their dream of seeing Flagg in a Wizards jersey hasn't been put to rest yet, all indications point to a different player landing in Washington this coming offseason.

No Maine Event in WAS?

There's no denying that Cooper Flagg is the top prospect in this upcoming NBA Draft class. The Duke star is averaging 19.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists on the season, while shooting an efficient 49.7% from field goal range in his freshman season with the Blue Devils.

All expectations entering the season is that Flagg would go one-and-done in his college journey and likely be selected with the top pick in the draft. However, as the Wizards seem to be the front runner for the pick, things seem to be trending downwards on the likelihood that Flagg lands in D.C. after the 6-foot-9 playmaker has already teased a return to college next season.

And following the latest news about the Maine native's future surrounding the NBA, fans of the Wizards may want to look away.

Although Flagg hasn't openly said he will withdraw from the draft and return to Duke, there seems to be growing optimism about him declaring for the NBA Draft, especially if the Wizards or Charlotte Hornets win the lottery.