What did incoming Duke freshman Cooper Flagg say after his weekend with USA Basketball? “I’m confident in my ability and my skill.”
This past weekend with Team USA Basketball probably went better than Cooper Flagg’s wildest dreams.
The incoming Duke freshman spent the previous few days as the only collegiate member of the Select Team, scrimmaging against the Olympic squad and putting up multiple highlight-worthy plays.
How did the 17-year-old respond to his star-making weekend? Well, during a Monday evening media session, he seemed like the least surprised person in the room.
“I’m confident in my ability and my skill,” Flagg said. “So at the end of the day, yeah, I’m confident in who I am and what I can do so I’m just coming out to play basketball.”
Duke commit Cooper Flagg on his scrimmage takeover against USA Basketball: “I’m confident in my ability and my skill. At the end of the day, I’m confident in who I am and what I do.” pic.twitter.com/USDkCJJb4v
During a Monday afternoon media session, Durant praised the young Flagg and showed optimism for his future.
“He looks like a hell of a player,” Durant said. “Somebody who is only going to get better with more experience. He’s 17 years old coming in here playing like he’s a vet, almost. No emotion. Just going out there and doing his job.”
It’s hard to find better praise than Durant, a former NBA MVP. The offensive superstar won back-to-back championships with the Golden State Warriors back in 2017-18, and he’s eighth on the league’s all-time scoring list with 28,924 career points.
Suns’ Kevin Durant on Duke’s Cooper Flagg at USA Basketball camp: “He looks like a hell of a player. … He’s 17 years old coming in here playing like a vet almost. No emotion. Just going out there and doing his job. That’s a good sign.” pic.twitter.com/IupKki3c8T
The Athletic released a compilation of other NBA players and coaches talking about the young Blue Devil signee. Every source, from current coaches to All-Stars, walked away from Las Vegas as a fan. Phoenix’s Devin Booker, Detroit’s Jalen Duren, and Miami’s Jamie Jaquez Jr. all offered some anecdotes about his work ethic and talent.
The most impressive quote, however, came from Golden State’s Trayce Jackson-Davis.
I just think that he’s got a competitive fire, and he’s not afraid of anyone and he’s gonna go at you,” Jackson-Davis said. “You need that as a player. And when you’re already like that, and you’re 17, the sky’s the limit.”
However, getting to play scrimmages against the United States Olympic team at the age of 17 can’t be an overstated experience. The 6-foot-9 forward shared a court with NBA legends like LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant, and Flagg even found ways to stand out on that same basketball court. He went viral for a series of consecutive baskets on Monday, and multiple NBA scouts and figures preached about how impressive the young player looked.
Here are some of the best photos from Flagg against James, Curry, fellow Duke alum Jayson Tatum, and some of the best players in the world.
The Duke basketball team was well-represented at the Team USA Olympic preparation, as showcased by one photo of three Blue Devils on Monday.
The 2024 Olympic men’s basketball team for the United States wouldn’t exist without several key Duke alums, at least not in its current form. Few college programs can match the Blue Devils’ representation in Las Vegas during the preparation camp this weekend.
Boston Celtics star [autotag]Jayson Tatum[/autotag] joins the team for a second time after he helped the United States win a gold medal in Tokyo three years ago. Now, he gets to participate in the Olympics as an NBA champion after the Celtics breezed through the playoffs.
Incoming freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] also got to participate as a member of the Select Team, a group of opponents for the Olympic team to scrimmage against to sharpen their skills. Even as the only active college player on the roster, Flagg went viral multiple times for his performance and caught the eye of several NBA scouts over the weekend.
Two-time national champion [autotag]Grant Hill[/autotag] even contributed, helping sculpt the team as the managing director. Duke fans enjoyed all three stars together in a photograph shared by the team.
For those counting, there’s an NBA title, two NCAA national champions, nine total All-NBA teams, and two top-three NBA draft picks in this photo. And Flagg’s career hasn’t even started yet. It’s reasonable to think that, by 2035, these three might be the three Duke basketball players with the best NBA careers.
Cooper Flagg went viral a few times for standout moments against the U.S. Olympic team, and reports say NBA scouts and coaches took notice.
[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] didn’t make the Olympic squad for the United States this summer, but even as a member of the Select Team, the incoming Duke freshman might have won the week.
The top-ranked prospect in the Class of 2024 will begin his Duke career shortly, but he spent the past two days scrimmaging against Team USA. He went viral multiple times for his efforts, first for a slashing dunk on Sunday before he knocked down back-to-back buckets on Monday. The performances caught the eyes of NBA scouts and coaches alike.
ESPN writer Marc J. Spears started the wave with a social media post on Monday night saying one current NBA coach called Flagg the best player on the Select Team. Keep in mind, Flagg was the only collegiate player on that squad as every other member of the team came from the NBA.
On3’s Jamie Shaw followed up with a bigger report on Tuesday with multiple anonymous takes from NBA scouts.
The scouts Shaw spoke to routinely praised Flagg’s competitiveness, a trait Duke coach Jon Scheyer also pointed out as a positive. His defense came up over and over again, with one quote from the report calling him one of the best defensive prospects of the last decade.
“He’s super versatile on the defensive end,” one scout said. “That’s what his best attribute is, the defensive instincts and his competitiveness.”
Scouts likened him to NBA names like Paul George, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and former Duke basketball star [autotag]Jayson Tatum[/autotag]. They had questions about how Flagg would take a step forward as a shot creator and as an offensive presence, but the floor seems high.
“At worst, as long as his motor and competitive edge doesn’t give, he’s got the chance to be a long-time presence on an All-NBA defensive list,” one scout told Shaw. “At best, he can be the face of the new frontier of the upcoming talent into the league.”
North Carolina swept the Blue Devils last season en route to a conference title, but Patton moved them down to second after Armando Bacot, Cormac Ryan, and Harrison Ingram headed to the NBA.
The Tar Heels added two big recruits in Ian Jackson and Drake Powell and Belmont transfer Cade Tyson, as well as retaining All-American RJ Davis. Compared to Duke adding [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag], [autotag]Sion James[/autotag], Mason Gillis, Maliq Brown, and multiple other elite freshmen, however, UNC’s additions feel less important to maintain a grip on the conference.
Patton rounded out his top five with Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, and Miami. Some historical powers finished lower in his top 10 with Virginia in sixth, Syracuse in eighth, and Louisville in ninth.
You always hear those stories about the youngins playing well against the OGs of the game during Team USA training camp. There’s always somebody on the Select Team giving the actual team fits.
The most prominent example you’ll probably clock immediately is the 1992 Dream Team vs. Chris Webber, Grant Hill and the rest of the Select Team. Rumor has it that the Select Team actually won a game against the best players in the world, as hard as that is to believe.
There’s also the story from the artist formerly known as Ron Artest, in which he talked about LeBron James giving Hall of Famers work (including Michael Jordan!) at just 15 years old.
These are usually stories we only hear about. Old basketball folktales about legends in the making. These games are usually played behind closed doors and in secret. You almost never see them.
With Cooper Flagg? Whew, boy. We saw it.
Pull-up three-pointers over Anthony Davis. Turnaround jumpers over Jrue Holiday. Smart hit-ahead passes and sky-high putback attempts. This kid has the goods, folks.
That’s not just anybody he’s doing that against. Those are the best players in the world. They are the best defenders in the world. And Flagg made this look like a regular pick-up run. This is not normal.
This single scrimmage will change the NBA’s landscape. At least two teams were going to tank heading into this year’s NBA draft. After watching this? The Faking the Funk for Flagg club is going to be packed.
If you’re like me and your team (the Wizards) is locked in on bottoming out, you’d better build a shrine and send prayers to the basketball gods. You’ll need all the help you can get for this one.
I can’t completely tell. Djokovic won his Round of 16 matchup against Holger Rune on Monday, which is pretty incredible on its own.
This guy tore his meniscus a few weeks ago and opted for surgery. Now, he’s a few rounds away from another Wimbledon Finals appearance. That’s not unheard of, but at 37 years old, that’s incredible.
But that’s not the story today. Petty Djokovic is the story today.
The audience cheered for Rune during the match, and he was given a good “Ruuuuuuune” chant, which sounds a lot like “Boooooooo” if you’re unfamiliar with it. Djokovic might be unfamiliar with it.
He went off on the crowd in his post-match interview, telling his haters to have a “gooooooood night.” Again, it sounds a lot like “boooooooo.” Even when he was told they were just cheering for Rune, he literally said he wouldn’t accept it.
“I know they were cheering for Rune but that’s an excuse to also boo. I’ve been on the tour for 20 years so, trust me, I know all the tricks. I know how it works,” he said. “I’ve played in much more hostile environments than here. You guys can’t touch me.”
We’re officially in our Petty Djoker era, folks. He usually doesn’t talk like this. I don’t know if it’s the knee injury or what, but something about this tournament has him juiced up.
Let’s see how far this goes.
Joey Chestnut eats wings, too
Last week, I accepted Joey Chestnut as the ultimate Glizzy Gobbler after he ate 57 hotdogs in five minutes. Disgusting yet impressive.
It turns out he doesn’t only specialize in glizzies. Boneless wings better run and hide because he’s coming for them, too. He gulped down 200 in 38 minutes in a promotion for Buffalo Wild Wings. Here’s Cory Woodroof with more.
“Chestnut devoured 200 BWW boneless wings in under 38 minutes on Monday, which extends the restaurants’ all-you-can-eat boneless wings and fries promotion on Mondays and Wednesdays through Aug. 14.
The professional eater called it a “record for generations” on Twitter (X) before taking on the challenge, which we’re sure filled him up quickly and made him not want to eat boneless chicken wings for a good while.
What a meal for Chestnut to devour, which benefits us all in the end.”
This should not be humanly possible, yet here we are. Joey Chestnut is truly one of the greatest athletes among us.
Quick hits: Don’t worry about Jamal Murray yet … The other Josh Allen is now Josh Hines-Allen … and more
Mikal Bridges being traded to the Knicks was directly connected to the Rockets-Nets draft deal, as confirmed by Brooklyn GM Sean Marks.
With an emphasis on pick quantity, quality, and a more diversified portfolio stretching out in further years, the Houston Rockets recently traded a pair of draft assets from the Nets (2025, 2026) back to Brooklyn for four future first-round picks and swaps from the Phoenix Suns (2025, 2027, and 2029) and Dallas Mavericks (2029).
Thanks to that trade, Brooklyn now controls its first-round draft capital in 2025 and 2026. Combine that with the recent trade of Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks, and many NBA observers expect the Nets to be among the league’s worst teams in the upcoming 2024-25 season — and thus, in the running for a high draft pick and the chance to select an elite 2025 prospect, such as Cooper Flagg.
It all leads to a reasonable question: Could Rockets general manager Rafael Stone have stayed the course with his previous draft portfolio while potentially adding another top prospect (such as Flagg) to an improving team in Houston (41-41)?
The answer, most likely, is no. Now that all trades are official, Nets general manager Sean Marks commented on the thought process. Here’s what Marks said, via James Herbert of CBS Sports:
They’re absolutely connected. I think when you look at doing the deal we did with the Knicks, that was really only possible by controlling our own destiny a little bit more… where we get our picks back from Houston.
sean marks on the bridges deal and the rockets deal: "they're absolutely connected. i think when you look at doing the deal we did with the knicks, that was really only possible by controlling our own destiny a little bit more, where we get our picks back from houston."
Translated, had the Rockets stayed the course, the Nets would have kept Bridges and likely been a respectable team. Brooklyn went 32-50 last season, which was only the ninth-worst NBA record, and they had the non-taxpayer mid-level exception — offering a starting annual salary near $13 million — to further add to the roster.
It’s still unlikely that the Nets would have been a playoff team, in that scenario, but it’s probable that their pre-lottery odds slot would have been toward the back half of the order (as opposed to the top). Granted, it would still be possible for the Rockets to move up, but the draft odds would not be nearly as favorable as the current scenario in which the Nets do not have Bridges and are fully rebuilding.
Thus, with peak upside limited, that’s what led the Rockets to prioritize an additional quantity of picks that go out in further years. From there, Brooklyn and Houston found an agreeable structure to best suit the preferred timeline of both teams, and the rest is history.
As for 2025, given the strength of the Western Conference and Kevin Durant’s ongoing injury history, it’s not implausible that the current first-round swap right that Houston owns with the Suns could be comparable in value to the previous swap with the Nets (with Bridges, which would have been the case had Houston stood pat).
So, as it pertains to Flagg, the chances are likely reduced but not completely implausible. Fans in Houston will simply need to cheer for the downfall of Phoenix, now, as opposed to Brooklyn.
Top 2024 high school recruit Cooper Flagg played in the Team USA scrimmage ahead of the Olympics, giving a forewarning to the elite of the NBA.
If Cooper Flagg had been allowed to enter the NBA draft directly out of high school last month, there’s a good chance he would have been the number one pick.
Instead, the consensus top recruit in the high school class of 2024 is headed to Duke, but he maneuvered his way into playing with the elite of the elite this week. The 17-year-old Maine native took part in a Team USA scrimmage at the UNLV training facility ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics and showed the Olympians that he’s coming for them.
Washington Post reporter Ben Golliver’s timeline on social media platform X is filled with highlights from the Team USA vs. Select Team scrimmage, and several are of Flagg getting the best of the NBA stars. Perhaps the best is this series of possessions in which he hits a 3-pointer over Los Angeles Lakers big Anthony Davis, tracks AD down the court as an errant pass flies in their direction, takes the ball upcourt, and then puts in an athletic putback while getting fouled.
Duke commit Cooper Flagg has taken over USA Basketball scrimmage: hits a three and then finishes a tough putback pic.twitter.com/SB3Y4fDpYt
Here’s another possession in which he backs down the smaller Jrue Holiday and then hits the turnaround jumper over the Boston Celtics guard, one of the top defenders in the NBA:
Duke commit Cooper Flagg hits a turnaround over Celtics’ Jrue Holiday during USA Basketball scrimmage pic.twitter.com/zEIDYVVNnv
And while he’s comfortable playing down low, taking the ball and shooting off the dribble, Flagg was also happy to spot up in the corner and hit a 3 over Davis.
Duke commit Cooper Flagg cashes a three over Lakers’ Anthony Davis during USA Basketball scrimmage pic.twitter.com/LVgLji6rQj
Team USA won 74-73, according to Golliver, and from the replays, it looked like they weren’t putting in 100% effort. But the play of this 17-year-old who has yet to start college, let alone step onto an NBA court for game action, is a forewarning for what may come as soon as next year.
Flagg first connected from 3-point range, hitting the shot over Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis. He followed Davis down the court, and after a bad pass led to a turnover, Flagg handled the ball up the court in transition. He tried to find a teammate for another 3-pointer, but when the shot didn’t fall, he raced into the paint for the put-back layup.
