LAS VEGAS — A 3-pointer over Anthony Davis, perfect. A baseline spin-off over Jrue Holiday, easy. An acrobatic rebound after crashing into the boards and getting fouled by Bam Adebayo, no problem.
Those are three of the best defenders in the NBA.
Cooper Flagg is 17 years old. He's lived up to all of them.
The star of the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team’s practice on Monday was Flagg, who hasn’t even played his first college game yet. The Duke freshman, part of the select team that was invited to practice against the Olympic team during its training camp and projected by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo as the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, looked totally comfortable going up against some of the league’s biggest names.
“The opportunity was great,” Flagg said. “It was a blessing to be here. I think just the physicality and the level I want to get to, there's a lot to improve on, a lot of things I need to continue to improve on. It just showed how important the details are.”
It will probably get better. It may be a scary thought.
“He's been a star here,” said Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley. “There's a respect factor for what he's done. People who haven't seen him play, when he gets going in the game, they quickly see what he can do.”
The draft team is typically made up of young NBA players, who participate in practice games with the national team and help it prepare for World Cup or Olympic competitions. Flagg was the first college player asked to be part of the draft team since Doug McDermott and Marcus Smart were invited to join a minicamp in 2013.
But those situations were nowhere near the same as Flagg being part of this camp. McDermott had played 110 college games for Creighton at that point and was a two-time consensus All-American. Smart was coming off a freshman season during which he earned Big 12 rookie of the year and conference player of the year honors at Oklahoma State. They were already proven competitors.
Flagg doesn't have any college points, but he still showed a lot in this camp.
“He wants it,” said national team guard Devin Booker. “I know he'll take this experience with him and move forward.”
In Monday's scrimmage, during which the Olympic team beat the select team 74-73, Flagg was at the center of it all down the stretch and looked perfectly comfortable. And when it was over, there were plenty of pictures with everyone; the select team's last day at camp was Monday, though some members might be invited to stay to continue helping the Olympic team.
“To be able to do what he did, not even playing a college game, let alone an NBA game, there's no fear,” said Miami Heat select-team forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. “He's relentless. And what you can say about him is he has a gift and a will to win. He doesn't need the ball. He just finds a way to get to it. And the ball finds a way to get to him. That's something you can't teach. He just has a great feel for the game.”
Flagg is a 6-foot-9 forward from Newport, Maine, who led Montverde Academy in Florida to a 30-0 record and a national title while also making the Nike Hoop Summit and other high school all-star games. He chose Duke over UConn. He was USA Basketball’s 2022 male athlete of the year after leading the Americans to gold at the U-17 World Cup. And in his final season in high school, Flagg was named Gatorade player of the year, Naismith player of the year and McDonald’s All American.
“I was shocked, surprised and very excited for this opportunity,” Flagg said of being named to the draft team. “And I feel really blessed to be able to go out and take advantage of it and show what I have. I felt very grateful to be able to go out and learn. That was the biggest thing for me: being able to learn and grow, sharing a gym with all these big names, legends. So I feel really blessed.”
Information from ESPN's Tim Bontemps was used in this report.
