Now that the NCAA Tournament is over, it is time to speculate on where the NBA prospects who took part in the postseason could go in June’s draft.
That begins with Cooper Flagg, the wonderfully gifted and talented Duke forward who is expected to be the first player chosen in the draft.
Right now, the Utah Jazz have the NBA’s worst record at 16-63, which means they have the best chance of winning the draft lottery and getting the No. 1 pick.
A new NBA mock draft by SB Nation has the Jazz taking Flagg with the No. 1 pick and pairing him with Lauri Markkanen, a one-time All-Star who is on a $196 million contract.
Flagg stands 6-foot-9 and can seemingly do it all. He can score from all three levels, hit the open man, rebound and disrupt opponents defensively. He has been compared to Scottie Pippen, the Hall of Famer who won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls.
Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks this season, and he shot 48.1% from the field and 38.5% from 3-point range.
Markkanen, who has put up 19.0 points per game so far this season, and Flagg would make quite a frontcourt duo. Utah also has a promising young defensive center in Walker Kessler, as well as a solid attacking, scoring guard in Collin Sexton.
