The Portland Trail Blazers capped off 2024-25 with a convincing 109-81 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, who were missing several key players as they prepared for the playoffs. Portland had a depleted roster of their own, but couldn't help but end their surprising season with a win.
Their victory could come back to haunt them as Portland now finishes the year tied with the Phoenix Suns for the ninth-worst record in the association at 36-46.
That makes the Blazers have another coin flip to determine their fate in the lottery -- a familiar spot for a franchise that just last year lost a coin flip to the Charlotte Hornets, only to wind up falling all the way to pick No. 7.
Blazers will regret if Suns win coin flip, especially if they miss out on a top-4 pick
The winner of the coin flip this time around will have the ninth-best lottery odds, while the loser will have the tenth-best. The one silver lining to this is that ninth and tenth are similar in terms of odds of landing in the top four. The bad news is that, regardless, the Blazers' odds are slim -- the downside of a relatively successful season.
In the best-case scenario, Portland will still have less than a five percent chance at Cooper Flagg and roughly a 20 percent chance at landing in the top four. If they win the coin flip, they'll have a 50.7 percent chance of picking No. 9 overall. If they lose, their odds of picking No. 10 increase to 65.9 percent.
More likely than not, the coin flip will determine whether Portland selects ninth or tenth. That's significant in a stacked draft class where the Blazers stole Kasparas Jakucionis at No. 9 in ESPN's latest mock draft.
But, even more concerning is the potential disaster scenario that the Blazers could have easily avoided, whether it was losing to the Lakers or one of their other recent wins over Atlanta, Toronto, or San Antonio.
Portland has had four No. 1 overall picks in franchise history. They've also had their share of bad lottery luck, including missing out on Victor Wembanyama by just one number on the final lottery ball.
This time, the Blazers haven't positioned themselves well to have a shot at another franchise-altering prospect in Flagg. But if, by chance, the Suns win the lottery, they will be kicking themselves even more for not prioritizing their lottery odds as much.
Of course, if that scenario were to play out, the only team more disappointed than Portland would be Phoenix, which now owes its first-round pick to the Houston Rockets.