After incoming Duke freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] worked the basketball world into a frenzy with his weekend performance at Team USA’s Olympic training camp, one FOX Sports host says he should be the face of next year’s NBA draft.
During a Tuesday stint hosting FS1’s “The Herd,” Danny Parkins essentially declared that the upcoming lottery will simply serve as the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes, likening his status to college football quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence and Andrew Luck.
“In the NFL, we had ‘Tank for Trevor,’ ‘Suck for Luck,'” Parkins started. “Capture the Flagg. That’s what Nets fans, Jazz fans, Spurs fans, Pistons fans, you’re going to be trying to capture the Flagg with this tanking and then you’ll hope for lottery luck.”
Parkins started the segment with a clip of Flagg’s Monday highlight from a scrimmage against Team USA, knocking down a 3-pointer over Anthony Davis before grabbing a put-back from a teammate just one possession later.
.@DannyParkins: Cooper Flagg might be the future face of Team USA basketball.
"In the NFL, we had 'Tank for Trevor,' 'Suck for Luck'… Capture the Flagg! That's what Nets fans, Spurs Fans, Pistons Fans, you're going to be trying to capture the Flagg with this tanking." pic.twitter.com/4AEror8qUe
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) July 9, 2024
With less than half a dozen American players in their 20s on the Olympic squad, Parkins said Flagg could emerge as the country’s next big basketball star.
“The future of USA basketball is very much in question,” Parkins said. “This kid Cooper Flagg looks to be the real deal.”