Duke Blue Devils superstar Cooper Flagg has not played a game in the NBA yet, but expectations are very high for the 18-year-old forward.
Now that the Blue Devils have been eliminated from March Madness, all eyes are set on Flagg’s future. Among that conversation is which player Flagg most resembles and what his ceiling on the court would be.
In a new piece by Jeremy Woo of ESPN, numerous NBA executives and scouts gave their thoughts on which players Flagg best compares to. Among those players is LA Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard.
“[Flagg]’s really good defensively and can be a game changer on that end pretty much immediately with his size, effort and IQ,” a Western Conference scout said. “He’s always been a very good defender and the offense is coming along. It’s a very similar path to the one Kawhi was on early in his NBA career, as a guy who had all these really useful qualities, and then entered as a real two-way force as he rounded out his game.”
Flagg’s comparison to a modern-day Kawhi Leonard is a very fascinating one. When Leonard first arrived in the NBA, he was being compared to Luc Mbah a Moute of all players. He wasn’t a known offensive player by any capacity, and had to evolve into one over time.
Duke’s Cooper Flagg joins Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson as the only men’s freshmen to win the Wooden Award 🔥
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Leonard’s development into a two-way player capable of averaging 30 points in the playoffs was generational. To put Flagg in that category would be to place some championship-level expectations on him.
In a few short months, assuming Flagg declares for the draft, fans can start seeing what he’s made of.
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