Juan Ocampo/NBAE through Getty Pictures
Incoming Duke freshman Cooper Flagg has impressed 14-time NBA All-Star Kevin Durant along with his efficiency throughout USA Basketball’s Olympic coaching camp.
“From the sideline, he regarded like a hell of a participant, anyone that is going to solely get higher with extra expertise,” Durant mentioned Tuesday (h/t The Washington Put up‘s Ben Golliver.) “17 years outdated, coming in right here and enjoying like he is a vet, nearly. No emotion, simply on the market doing his job. That is an excellent signal.”
Ben Golliver @BenGolliver
Suns’ Kevin Durant on Duke’s Cooper Flagg at USA Basketball camp: “He appears like a hell of a participant. … He is 17 years outdated coming in right here enjoying like a vet nearly. No emotion. Simply going on the market and doing his job. That is an excellent signal.” pic.twitter.com/IupKki3c8T
Flagg was considered one of 15 athletes named to Group Choose to coach with the USA Basketball Males’s Nationwide Group this week in Las Vegas forward of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Duke prospect, who turns 18 in December, is the one member of the staff with no NBA expertise.
He’s additionally the primary school participant to be invited since Doug McDermott and Marcus Sensible joined the squad in 2013.
This isn’t the primary time Durant has complimented Flagg, who’s an early favourite to be the No. 1 choose of the 2025 NBA Draft.
“Younger dudes, it is exhausting to actually perceive, if you’re enjoying in opposition to highschool competitors, you do not know who’s the perfect of the perfect… however the intangibles that he has, and his measurables, and his uncooked expertise, I can see that via the TV,” Durant advised Rich Kleiman for Boardroom in February (52:30 mark.)
Durant continued: “If you’re 6’10”, after which come operating up and down the ground like that, and bought the instincts with the basketball like that, you are solely going to— when you work at it, and also you care, and also you’re in line with who you might be, like I mentioned, displaying up day-after-day— when you present up day-after-day, and be the perfect that you could be, I believe Cooper Flagg might be probably the greatest gamers within the league for 15 years.”
Seeing Flagg play in particular person in opposition to a star-studded Group USA roster that options LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Stephen Curry apparently has not modified Durant’s thoughts, particularly given the incoming freshman’s potential to carry his personal on the court docket in opposition to NBA veterans:
NBA Future Begins Now @nbafuturenow
Cooper Flagg recovers for the slam 💪
Choose Group vs. Nationwide Group Scrimmage 🍿 pic.twitter.com/IXbb9vDrgK
Whereas Group USA veterans like Durant are getting their first glimpse of Flagg, the Duke prospect has been getting his first glimpse of what it will likely be prefer to be within the NBA. He advised ESPN’s Tim Bontemps that he’s studying concerning the professionals’ conduct, coaching and recreation preparation whereas attending the Vegas camp.
