Teams Who Can Get The No. 1 Pick, Ranked

Ping pong balls will decide on Monday who gets a shot at a potential franchise changer in the NBA Draft.

Editor’s note: There are 13 teams who can win the draft lottery at 5pm MDT on Monday. Mark Russell Pereira explains his rooting interests for who he thinks should (and shouldn’t) come away with the No. 1 overall pick.

1. Utah Jazz. I think the Utah Jazz are pretty neat.
2. Toronto Raptors. The Raptors risked it all a few years ago by trading for the unknown health of Kawhi Leonard on an expiring contract and nabbed a title. This appeases me and the basketball gods. They also Actually Tried this year to pressure test the actual quality of their team, which gave them only 6.5% worse odds than the Jazz for the top pick. Presumed top pick Cooper Flagg in Toronto has a cool appeal and he’d terrorize the Eastern Conference instead of Utah.
3. Houston Rockets. This comes with the added hilarity that this would be the Phoenix Suns’ pick that they traded to Brooklyn for Kevin Durant, which was rerouted to Houston so that Brooklyn could cover up their own James Harden mess. I know Houston was the No. 2 seed, but they clearly have a lot of holes and a few players on the wrong end of the aging curve. But mainly, they have Cool and Good Dudes like Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun that I want to see grow further with a more competitive team instead of just being kinda nice.
4. Portland Trail Blazers. Similar to Houston, there are some fun, young, talented dudes on the Blazers who need a little more juice to be competitive. I enjoy watching Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe do random stuff in February, but give them Flagg and we could have a legendary team in the making as they all progress together. I will never not think Chauncey Billups is a joke for failing to understand Rudy Gobert’s defensive impact (“…[on] pick-and-rolls you just attack – you can just go after him” is, uh, not true at all?)—which is extra funny as he learns to coach Donovan Clingan—but that doesn’t really get in the way of what we could all enjoy.
5. Sacramento Kings. Horrific mismanagement and F-tier ownership makes it hard to truly sympathize with the Kings as an organization as worthy, but their incredible fanbase deserves some unbridled joy. Have a happy feeling for once; Flagg will just get traded by Vivek Ranadive for, like, Keyonte George and a pick in four years anyways.
6. Charlotte Hornets. I mean, sure. I don’t care. The Hornets have nice uniforms and a promising young coach in Charles Lee who probably deserves a chance to lead a team who isn’t proud to start 39-year-old Taj Gibson FOR ELEVEN GAMES.
7. Washington Wizards. More ambivalence. Their second-year GM, Will Dawkins, seems like he’s about the right stuff but nothing suggests this is going to be a team worth caring much about even with Flagg. I like Bub Carrington. Whatever.
8. Brooklyn Nets. It was a little clever, if not self-defeating, for Brooklyn to have to trade for their own picks back after the Durant/Irving/Harden failures. It feels inherently icky for them to get rewarded after borking so much of their recent history, but it wasn’t nearly as negligent as some other teams on this list. Ian Eagle and Sarah Kustok deserve a cool team to provide commentary for.
9. Chicago Bulls. The Bulls have rarely made egregious errors in roster building, but they consistently rack up consecutive offseasons and trade deadlines where they make their team a little worse and a little more boring. Getting Flagg would just be an unearned lifeboat for a team that should probably figure out basic shit before succumbing Flagg to six-plus years of a 38-win team. The league is probably better if Chicago is interesting, but I don’t care!
10. Atlanta Hawks. They got the no. 1 pick last year and while Zaccharie Risacher is no Tim Duncan, it still feels pretty Not Okay for them to get it again. Flagg also deserves better than to be relegated to NBATV playoff series for his career.
11. San Antonio Spurs. I know a lot of people would put the Spurs at the very bottom of this list, but, for me, it feels a lot like the Rockets and Blazers; I want to make sure Victor Wembanyama has an awesome team to thrive with for me to remember for years. A Wembanyama-Flagg combo would preclude the Jazz from winning a title for the next 10 years, perhaps? So not exactly my favorite thing in the world.
12. New Orleans Pelicans. They got lucky in the lottery already with Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson and screwed up both situations. No thanks! You lose! Good day, sir!
13. Philadelphia 76ers. Absolutely not. Just a team with horrible vibes and have pressed their luck too much already.
14. Getting Hit By the Jazz Bear Sliding Down the Arena Stairs
15. Taking a Screen from Steven Adams
16. Dallas Mavericks. Until Nico Harrison and the Adelson family are gone from this team, they deserve nothing but bad luck. This would feel incredibly gross. Apologies to their fans who deserve better.