In July 2024, seventeen-year-old Cooper Flagg, prior to his debut for Duke, arrived at UNLV`s Mendenhall Center. His presence immediately piqued significant interest among future Hall of Famers who were preparing for the 2024 Olympic Games with Team USA.
Flagg was considered the most anticipated and hyped American high school prospect since LeBron James, who was selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft long before Cooper was born. James and the rest of Team USA, though they hadn`t seen him play yet, were well aware of Flagg`s name.
An invitation to Team USA`s select squad for an amateur player was exceptionally rare—it hadn`t happened in over a decade. Doug McDermott and Marcus Smart, for instance, received such calls in 2013, but they were already accomplished college players.
This scrimmage at Team USA`s training camp would be the most significant test yet for the teenage phenom. Would Flagg be intimidated facing perennial NBA All-Stars he grew up watching on TV? Would he be nervous playing in a small gym surrounded by league coaches and executives?
The answer was definitive: no. “Zero nerves,” 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis told ESPN, recalling his first impression of the 6-foot-9 forward who will play alongside him in the Dallas Mavericks` frontcourt this season. “He went out and balled.”
Flagg is back in Las Vegas for one final tune-up before his rookie season, as the Mavericks face the Los Angeles Lakers in their preseason finale. However, Flagg`s true “welcome-to-the-NBA” moment happened 15 months ago, just a few miles away, when he clearly demonstrated his ability to make an immediate impact in the league, even though he had to wait a year to become draft-eligible.
Flagg was already the unanimous favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft when he arrived at Team USA`s training camp in Vegas. Any doubts about him going first overall were erased after that scrimmage, where the Olympic squad barely secured a 74-73 victory, narrowly fending off a comeback fueled by Flagg.
This success only amplified expectations for Flagg as he headed to Duke, where he again surpassed all expectations, earning national player of the year honors and leading the “Blue Devils” in every major statistical category, guiding them to an ACC title and a Final Four appearance. Now, with the veteran-heavy “Mavericks” stunningly securing Flagg with the No. 1 pick despite just a 1.8% lottery chance, the expectation is that Cooper can further develop his game as a rookie and prove himself as that rare teenager capable of immediately impacting winning in the NBA.
“I don`t know if it was about proving anything to myself or simply feeling comfortable and gaining confidence from that experience,” Flagg told ESPN. “I definitely had that feeling that I belonged. I knew I could be out there.”
While studying tapes of Flagg`s all-around play at Duke, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd wondered if Cooper could do even more. Kidd noticed echoes of another outstanding Duke alumnus in Flagg`s game: Grant Hill, who shared the Rookie of the Year award with Kidd in the 1994-95 season, often playing point guard for the Detroit Pistons. Kidd saw in Flagg the same phenomenal blend of feel and force that Hill possessed coming out of college. “I saw that, too,” Hill, who as Team USA`s managing director invited Flagg to the select squad and broadcast some of his college games, told ESPN. “He tries to play the complete game. You look up, and he has 22 points, and it doesn`t even feel like he was looking to score. He`s so unselfish. He defends. He just tries to do what`s necessary to win games.”
Upon Flagg`s arrival in Dallas, Kidd was determined to test his abilities at the point guard position. The coach also wanted to see how Cooper would handle an unfamiliar role. This experiment began during his brief stint in the Las Vegas Summer League, where the Mavs had mixed results, splitting the two games in which Flagg played.
In the first summer league game, Flagg shot poorly, making only 5 of 21 attempts, but still managed to leave his mark on the decisive sequence of the win over the Lakers. With just over a minute remaining, Flagg swooped in from the weak side, blocked a layup attempt, then pushed the ball in transition, drew three defenders into the paint, and dished to a teammate for an open three-pointer that gave Dallas the definitive lead. In the second game, a loss to the San Antonio Spurs, Flagg scored 31 points in 31 minutes. The Mavs had seen enough — particularly impressed with how Flagg handled pressure bringing the ball up the court — and decided to rest him for the remainder of the Summer League.
“He handled the situation as well as an 18-year-old could,” said Kidd, who started Flagg at point guard in a jumbo lineup during Monday`s preseason win over the Utah Jazz. “He has a talent for winning. It`s in his DNA, and therefore it would be unfair not to make him uncomfortable.”
The most memorable moments of Flagg`s time at the national team`s training camp, according to Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley, who led the Team USA select squad, did not occur during the scrimmage itself. They happened during the few practices and meetings the select squad held beforehand.
Flagg`s inquisitiveness and intelligence impressed Mosley, who especially enjoyed an in-depth dialogue between Flagg and Magic guard Jalen Suggs about the intricacies of NBA defense. “He asked a lot of questions,” Mosley told ESPN. “I think it`s crucial for a young player in this situation to be able to ask the right questions. He simply wanted to understand what it looks like at the next level. He`s a communicator, and that spoke volumes to me about him. Guys with high basketball IQs who want to play the right way will ask questions.”
Then Flagg delivered a fearless performance in the scrimmage. “He wasn`t afraid of the moment or who he was going against,” Mosley said. “He was himself. I think he walked in with quiet confidence, but when he stepped onto the court with those guys, that demeanor didn`t change at all.”
If such a thing as a “signature stretch” can apply to a scrimmage, Flagg delivered one, orchestrating a late scoring flurry as the select team rallied from a double-digit deficit. He hit a baseline turnaround from the left block over Jrue Holiday. He rose from the right wing to drill an off-dribble three-pointer right in Davis`s face. And then Flagg soared for an “and-one” tip-in over Bam Adebayo, eliciting a roar from the entire select team bench.
These three scoring plays were made against a trio of defenders with a combined 16 All-Defensive Team selections. Flagg didn`t celebrate any of them, maintaining a quiet, focused sense of calm. He called his time with the select team “a big learning experience,” but nothing he did against the Olympians surprised Flagg himself.
“He was cooking,” Davis said. “He definitely stood out. Guys, of course, had heard his name, and we all knew who he was. But many players, I wouldn`t say hesitate, but when you`re going against guys like myself, LeBron, Steph [Curry], you see these guys and it`s like, `Whoa!` You look up to and idolize them, and now you have to play against them. You naturally get nervous, which is normal. But for him, Flagg has the utmost confidence in himself.”
Although media attention to the scrimmage focused on Flagg`s scoring, it wasn`t what most impressed former Team USA coach Steve Kerr. Kerr was astounded by Flagg`s command of the game at such a young age against elite competition. “I just remember the force you felt,” Kerr told ESPN. “You immediately felt him. And it was as a complete basketball player. It wasn`t just like he had a huge dunk or something. No. It was the passing, the cutting, the late-clock, left-handed jump hook on the block when the offense had nothing else. It was so consistent. “I`m coaching against him, and we have the best players. He has incredible feel. He`s just huge but plays like a guard in terms of reading the game.”
Kerr recalled seeing Duke coach Jon Scheyer in the gym after that game. “I said, `That must have made you feel good,`” Kerr recounted. “He just smiled.”
Kidd shares that feeling.
