Cooper Flagg’s participation in the NBA’s Eastern Conference is a must for the health of the league

With all due respect to fans of sad NBA teams like the Utah Jazz and Portland Trail Blazers, it’s time to have an open conversation. And I apologize if this excludes your completely legitimate (but in my opinion ultimately tertiary) needs as die-hard supporters of your respective favorite teams.

The NBA’s newest draft prospect, Duke’s Cooper Flagg, will have to play in the Eastern Conference when he enters the league, expected in the summer of 2025. Point.

There are no ifs and buts either.

If we want to have a truly healthy and balanced NBA, throwing another potential franchise superstar like Flagg into an already occupied West is a dire scenario for the league. The sheer difference in talent between the two conferences — the West has had more All-NBA players every season for 26 straight years — is already far too obvious.

The East’s embarrassingly slow start to the 2024-2025 season only confirms this. It’s still a small sample size (less than 10 games a year at the time of writing), but here are some insightful early numbers to keep in mind if you’re the type of person who likes to watch Flagg would play somewhere west of the Rocky Mountains:

• Currently only two East teams, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, have one win record. That’s right. Literally, everyone else except Cleveland and Boston in the East is hovering around .500 or less. Yikes.
• Eight of the NBA’s ten best records to date have come from teams in the Western Conference. Eight. EIGHT.
• The West itself has so far won over 70 percent of its games in direct duels with the East. By the way, that’s roughly a pace of 57 wins in an 82-game season. A really hot kind of dominance.
• The East itself is also being badly affected by the struggling Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks, who were supposed to be the frontrunners as conference heavyweights. From injuries and age to good old-fashioned bad luck, these two teams are instead stuck at the bottom of the table. Tough scene.

I know it’s tempting to say that we’ll appreciate someone with Flagg’s unique all-around ability no matter where he plays. What sure. That’s part of the deal we make as sports fans. Sometimes it’s just a matter of sitting back and appreciating the show that talented athletes can put on.

You take what you can get. I understand.

Still, this massive divide between the East and West of the NBA simply cannot continue. Flagg and Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs are/are considered two of the best draft prospects in the league Years. It would be an absolute disaster for both to play Western teams in a conference where, for example, a team with 50 wins was the fifth seed last season (a team with 50 wins was the No. 2 seed in the East). Competitive balance.

Western teams have been tearing each other apart all year long. Meanwhile, the 2-3 squads fighting at the top of the East can switch to cruise control at will. A potential superstar like Flagg heading west would only make things worse. It is neither tenable nor sustainable for players or fans of Western teams. (The conference really needs more “off nights,” if you know what I mean!)

The East needs a ton of prospects and all-time talent. Bad.

So that’s my message to the fans of young teams like the Washington Wizards and Toronto Raptors. I’m really keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Go and capture the flag.

The competitive balance between the NBA’s conferences could depend on it.