Where Is Cooper Flagg Headed? Plus Four More Questions Ahead of Combine Week
With the lottery set to reshape the top of the draft, it’s time to focus on the questions that could define it.
As I sit here at 5 a.m. in Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, waiting to board a flight to Chicago, I can’t help but feel a familiar excitement creeping in—this is my favorite week of the scouting calendar. Yes, more than the Draft itself.
The NBA Combine offers something unique: proximity. It’s the one event each year where players, agents, and front office executives—some of the highest-ranking decision-makers in the league—are all in the same building, and most importantly, they’re accessible. This is when the real conversations happen.
I’m looking forward to catching up with colleagues, absorbing as much intel as I can, and of course, eavesdropping on all the NBA Draft chatter that starts to bubble up here. This year’s Combine has its own wrinkle.
The 2025 class is headlined by either high-upside freshmen or proven college vets, and for a group of 10 to 15 prospects, real decisions loom: stay in the draft or return to school where NIL money might be more lucrative than a two-way deal.
Just yesterday, Duke’s Isaiah Evans pulled out of the Combine and announced he’s returning to Durham. Monday kicks things off with the NBA Draft Lottery—what basically amounts to the Cooper Flagg Sweepstakes—but it’ll also finalize the order for the top 14 picks, and start to bring the draft board into focus.
As I sit here waiting to board my flight, I keep coming back to five big questions I’m hoping to get some clarity on over the next few days in Chicago.
1. Who's Suiting Up and Who's Sitting Out?
One of the most consistent questions entering the Combine in recent years has been: how many top prospects are actually going to suit up and play? And if recent history is any indicator, the answer is: not many. Over the past two years, it’s been rare to see lottery-level talent take part in live 5-on-5 action.
For example, at my first NBA Combine back in 2022, I was disappointed to see that 40 of the 58 prospects in my pre-Combine mock draft chose not to take part in the scrimmages.