There is no doubt that Cooper Flagg is the most highly touted prospect in college basketball. You have probably heard his name associated with the 2025 No. 1 overall pick since well before his freshman year at Duke.
Across the NBA this season, teams that aren’t playoff-bound have been fighting to rack up as many losses as possible just to have a sliver of a better chance at selecting Flagg in the upcoming draft.
So what is it that makes him so coveted and valuable?
Versatility
Flagg is currently listed at 6-foot-9, weighing in at 205 pounds and with a 7-foot-1 wingspan. With those kinds of measurements it would make sense for him to slot in easily as an NBA power forward. But, Flagg could realistically play at any spot on the court offensively and defensively.
With his soft touch and feel for the ball around the rim, he excels as a cutter, but even when facing bigger players, he is strong going to the rim and isn’t intimidated off his spot. His size gives him an advantage as a wing player, and as a 37.4% 3-point shooter during his freshmen season at Duke he proved that he is an outside threat that can draw multiple defenders.
The gravity he has as an offensive player has also forced him to sometimes act as a playmaker, which he does. Even off rebounds and in transition, he is perfectly comfortable bringing the ball up the court and initiating offense.
He has a quick first step, is explosive when he wants to be, and is a force at every spot on the court. When thinking about unicorn-type players, Flagg fits the mold to a T. He is legitimately capable of playing every position, even at the NBA level.
No possessions off
Call it passion, competitive spirit, grit, force, call it whatever you want. What NBA scouts, coaches and executives like the most about Flagg is that he doesn’t take possessions off.
“He plays with force no matter the situation,” a Western Conference executive told the Deseret News. “It doesn’t matter if it’s on offense, defense, in transition, on the glass … he competes on every single possession.”
It doesn’t mean that Flagg needs the ball all the time. One of the things that is most impressive about Flagg, and has especially stood out during the NCAA Tournament, is that he is keenly aware of when his teammates are the ones that have it going. And in those moments, he doesn’t relax or become invisible.
If anything, when Flagg defers to his teammates, it is even more apparent how much he contributes to every aspect of the game.
“He cares about winning,” an NBA coach said. “It’s not about him, it’s about the sum of the parts. He’s a complete player because of his unselfishness.”
By all accounts, Flagg is just as fiercely competitive on both sides of the ball as well as in games and practices. He pushes his teammates with his level of play.
Body
Flagg’s measurements tell enough of a story on their own, but his frame and how much he’s been able to develop physically just over the last couple of years has NBA teams very excited about what he will look like after a couple of NBA seasons.
He has broad shoulders and is clearly capable of putting on weight without slowing down. He is agile while still having incredible lower-body strength and it seems that he is only getting stronger.
“He has developed so much this year, just in his body,” an NBA scout said. “He still needs to get stronger, but as he rounds into being an adult and spends time training with an NBA staff, the sky is the limit for him.”
Weaknesses
There are some questions that still remain unanswered about Flagg. But when talking about some of the areas of Flagg’s game that need improvement, everyone that I talked to said that they had no doubt that Flagg could improve or that he was capable of getting better.
Importantly, the areas that need improvement will be the deciding factors on how productive he can be in the NBA, not if he can be productive.
As an isolation scorer, Flagg will need to become a little tighter with the ball and learn how to deal with on-ball pressure without turning the ball over.
As a defender, he goes for blocks and steals a lot, which sometimes gets him out of position. He’ll need to learn when those gambles are worth it, and then his teammates will need to be sound in their rotations to cover up behind him.
There are a handful of other things that will need to be fine-tuned when he reaches the NBA — shooting technique, footwork, handles — but there is really not anything that stands out as a clear weakness for Flagg. There’s nothing that has shot up as a red flag or something that gives anyone cause for concern.
Comfortability
At every level, there have been expectations for Flagg and he has not shied away from the amount of pressure or those expectations.
In high school he was incredible, which meant more eyes than ever were on him when he left. But even when he was playing with Team USA on the select team last summer, he didn’t act like he didn’t belong.
Instead, it became clear to all of the NBA players, coaches and trainers in those practices that Flagg was something special.
Then, at Duke, Flagg has been exactly what everyone thought he would be and the bright lights of the NCAA Tournament, even coming off an injury, have done nothing but bolster his confidence.
On Saturday Duke will take on Houston in a Final Four matchup and at this point it seems that the national title is Flagg’s and Duke’s to lose.
Odds for No. 1
Teams, like the Utah Jazz, that have been salivating over a chance to select Flagg in the upcoming NBA draft will find out their draft position fate on May 12 at the NBA Draft Lottery in Chicago.
The teams with the three worst regular-season records will each have a 14% chance of winning the No. 1 overall pick. But a team with the worst overall record has not won the lottery since 2018, when teams still had a 25% chance of picking No. 1 overall with the worst record.
The Jazz look poised to be in the running for the worst overall record and will definitely finish with a bottom-three record, so they’ll have the best possible odds at the No. 1 overall pick, but they’ll need a little bit of luck to fall their way on lottery night if they want a chance at Flagg, who looks to be a generational talent coming out of the draft.
