2 weeks Ago By Kerrie Jacobs-Bryant
Cooper Flagg looks set to be the NBA's next big thing, but has one season with Duke first. Scout mock drafts predict Flagg to go No. 1, sparking early tanking talks across NBA teams.
Flagg showcased impressive skills vs. NBA All-Stars, impressing Team USA and Kevin Durant. The 2024-25 NBA season hasn’t even begun yet, but with the emergence of 17-year-old Cooper Flagg, who will begin his college career with Duke University this year, league insider Mark Medina believes teams around the Association may already be thinking about the possibility of tanking to boost their chances of landing the No.
1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft . The Next Big Thing? It is never too early for an NBA mock draft , and even with more than nine months until draft night, there is one player who is consistently atop the projected boards – Cooper Flagg. Just 17-years-old, the guard/forward who hails from Newport, Maine is set to play his freshman season for the Duke Blue Devils , and despite having not played a single college game, he has already been touted as a generational prospect , drawing comparisons – in terms of potential as a No.
1 pick – with the likes of LeBron James , Anthony Davis , and Zion Williamson . Current Betting Odds to go No. 1 Overall in the 2025 NBA Draft Name College Odds Cooper Flagg Duke -500 Ace Bailey Rutgers +325 Dylan Harper Rutgers +1200 Nolan Traore Saint-Quentin (LNB Pro A - France) +850 Khaman Maluach Duke +1500 Jalil Bethea Miami +1600 His stock likely increased further when he was selected to the USA’s Select Team, the first collegiate athlete to do so since 2013 ( Marcus Smart and Doug McDermott ), where he participated in scrimmages against the stars of Team USA’s Olympic roster, including James and Davis, and he did not look a single bit out of place.
While the Olympic Team did come out with the victory – albeit narrowly - Flagg almost led the Select Team to an upset, and as such, put future Hall-of-Famer Kevin Durant on notice, who highly praised the future NBA prospect. With him universally projected to be selected with the No. 1 overall pick next year, some teams may already be considering tanking in order to boost their chances of landing the pick, with rebuilding teams, such as the Charlotte Hornets , Toronto Raptors , and Brooklyn Nets all touted to be good fits for the prospect.
No doubt there will be many other teams waiting to see how they fare in the NBA next season, who may feel that their best chances are to tank, but teams like the Houston Rockets , San Antonio Spurs , and Utah Jazz , may be those teams who stand in the gray area of not being good enough to be in the playoff mix, but are too good to tank to the bottom of the standings. Team USA Were Left ‘Very Impressed’ Medina was in Las Vegas to watch the scrimmage between Team USA and the Select Team, and like Team USA, was left very impressed by Flagg’s performance, which he summarized as ‘aggressive’. It wasn’t just his basketball skills that left Team USA enthralled, though, it was his whole demeanor, which was described as humble, yet confident, which earned the respect of the biggest names in basketball.
“I was very impressed. I had never seen Cooper Flagg play before until that scrimmage, and he almost led the select team into a win, if not for Anthony Davis's game-saving block against him. He made a turnaround jump over Jrue Holiday, he made a three, he had an and-one off a put-back.
He was just being very aggressive, driving to the rim. When you talk to people from Team USA, they're just very impressed with his assertiveness, his playmaking, his shooting, his humility. He was not trying to act like he's the best person in the room, but he also was confident with going toe-to-toe with everyone, and that's what NBA veteran players respect.
So when you saw the images of LeBron James and Steph Curry and Kevin Durant embrace him, it was all real.” ‘YES’ - Teams Will Inevitably Tank So, to put it simply, Medina definitely thinks teams will tank for Flagg. The only question that remains is which ones, with the journalist believing that once some teams realize they are not in competition for playoff or Play-In Tournament spots, that they will choose to shut up shop early and go all in for the 2025-26 season.
“Kevin Durant really praised him, saying ‘I wish I was able to practice and go head-to-head with him.’ He obviously wasn't able to practice because of his calf injury, but he was really impressed with just his composure, and his ability to lace it up. And he hasn't even played a single game at Duke yet.
So will we see teams start tanking form? I think the answer is a YES in capital letters, but we don't know which teams they will be. I think what we'll see is once it's clear these teams aren't going to be good next season, it will be all about tanking for Flagg.” Stellar High School Career Despite having not played an NCAA game yet, Flagg has already begun to build up quite the resumé, helping lead Team USA's U17 team to FIBA World Cup glory in 2022.
There, he averaged 9.3 points per game, a team-leading 10.0 rebounds , and 2.
9 blocks. In the gold medal game, he posted a 10 point, 17 rebound double-double, while he also had eight steals and four blocks in a game for the ages, and was subsequently named MVP. Cooper Flagg - 2022-23 vs.
2023-24 High School Season Stats Category 2022-23 2023-24 PPG 9.8 16.1 RPG 5.
2 7.6 APG 3.0 3.
9 FG% 55.0 54.8 3P% 38.
0 38.0 Flagg spent his high school career split between Nokomis Regional High School, where he led them to a Class A state championship, and Montverde Academy, where he really began to get noticed. In last year's Nike EYBL, he averaged 26.
9 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in 17 contests.
Then, in the 2023-24 season, the 6-foot-9 wing led the Eagles to an undefeated 33-0 record, where they would go on to win the Chipotle Nationals, winning 79-63 in the championship game over Paul VI High School, where, in 31 minutes, Flagg recorded 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 2-of-3 from downtown, while he also had eight rebounds, two assists, and six blocks. Who knows what awaits Flagg next season at Duke, but he has already shown blinding potential, and under Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer, he should only continue to get better and better. Scary hours await both the college circuit, and the league, that's for sure.
All statistics courtesy of Statmuse, ESPN, NBA.com and Basketball Reference. Denver’s first-round draft selection will miss the 2024-25 NBA season after suffering an Achilles tear in Summer League.
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