Cooper Flagg Is a Prospect Worth Tanking For

The Duke forward isn’t just a good player, he’s one of the best draft prospects in recent memory.

There’s a solid chance Cooper Flagg first got on your radar last summer when stories of his incredible play for the U.S. select team against the country’s Olympic squad surfaced. The hype was understandable. It's not normal to have a star-studded performance against the best players in the world before you even play your first college game. But there was actually a moment years prior where Flagg truly announced himself to the basketball world, a performance that foretold just how special he was.

Playing for the USA Men’s U17 National Team at the 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup, Flagg had a championship game for the ages, posting a stat line with 10 points, 17 rebounds, 8 steals, and 4 blocks to secure the gold medal. Even more impressive — Flagg was only 15 years old when he did this, making him the second-youngest player on the floor for Team USA that day.

This has been a common theme throughout Flagg’s career — he plays up against opponents who are older than him, still manages to dominate statistically, and then his team wins most, if not all, of their games. In the same year he won gold, Flagg transferred to Montverde Academy, and immediately emerged as the high school juggernaut’s star player. There he was teammates with Derik Queen, Asa Newell, and Liam McNeeley — three players who very well might join Flagg in the draft lottery this year, and who are all a full year or even two older than him — and yet, there was no confusion in the pecking order at Monteverde. Flagg was the guy, and he always has been.

He began this college basketball season as one of the youngest players in the entire sport, not turning 18 until late December 2024. Despite that decided disadvantage, Flagg is averaging 19.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game for a No. 3 ranked Duke team that could very well win the national title. He’s also got a real shot at winning National Player of the Year, an honor that has only gone to three freshmen ever in its 82-year history — Zion Williamson, Anthony Davis, and Kevin Durant. It’s pretty good company when the “worst” player in the trio is college Zion.

The only “flaw” anyone can point to with him is that in each of Duke’s three losses, Flagg has had the ball late in a close game and committed a turnover while falling down mid-spin move. That criticism of course ignores the fact that Flagg is the primary reason the Blue Devils have even had a chance to win in those three losses. Just look at what he did against Clemson two weeks ago during the home stretch of the game:

Performances like his recent outing against Clemson are fascinating given the jump shot was never supposed to be the selling point with Flagg – yet it’s slowly grown into another strength all the same. He’s shot 37.4% on 99 three-point attempts through 26 collegiate games, and an impressive 38.1% on off-the-dribble triples. He’s always had an imposing mid-range bag, getting to his spots and rising up over shorter defenders for solid looks roughly 12-17 feet away from the basket. Rather, it’s his aggression and physical nature driving toward the rim that puts the most fear into his opponents. Flagg is imposing with any amount of runway, looking stronger, faster, and more explosive than just about anyone he goes up against.

He’s not afraid to knock someone backward with his shoulders before finishing at the rim, nor does he show any discomfort finishing with his left hand. Duke has especially found great success with him as a roll man this season, having him set high ball screens out of Horns alignments before attacking a tilted defense with devastating effect.

He’s not just a bucket getter or play finisher on offense either, showing rather impressive passing chops, particularly in the pick and roll. No one would confuse him with a heliocentric James Harden acolyte, but Flagg can break down a defense when they overcommit their resources toward thwarting him. He’s particularly adept at hitting rolling big men for high value opportunities at the rim, a skill that would pair well with rim running bigs like the Sixers’ Adem Bona.

(Side note: the teammate Flagg is passing to in all those plays is Khaman Maluach, one of my other favorite prospects in this entire draft. The Sixers aren’t in the market for another big man, but you could defensibly put Maluach as high as No. 2 on an NBA Draft Big Board right now, and I wouldn’t disagree).

This is all precursor to the most enticing aspect of Flagg’s game though — his horrifyingly good defense. Duke ranks fourth nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency per KenPom, and a lot of that can be attributed to the remarkable playmaking of Flagg. He plays an opportunistic style of defense that Duke coach Jon Scheyer has leaned into this season, having the Blue Devils switch almost every single off-ball action. This allows Flagg to play up high on the floor compared to whomever he’s guarding (think the way Nico Batum was always denying/face-guarding offensive players off-ball with the way he positioned his feet).

It can occasionally bite him, as one of Flagg’s only weaknesses is that he’ll get caught ball watching as his man slips into open space. But with how incredible and game-changing his blocks and steals are, you live with the infrequent slip-ups every day of the week. He prowls around the court looking for the ball while also being keen to rotate to the rim and protect his teammates. Even the most momentary relaxation is enough for Flagg to pounce with his quickness and insane wingspan to snatch the ball away.

Comparing prospects to NBA players can often go overboard, lofting unfair star expectations on prospects from an early age. Yet, there’s nothing that seems too far-fetched for Flagg. The comparisons range from Anthony Davis to Kawhi Leonard to even Breanna Stewart, and none of them feel that impossible for him to reach with how amazing he’s looked despite — and I need to reiterate this — being a full year younger if not more than everyone he’s playing against. A theme with those three comparisons is their physical dominance on the court, which Flagg shows in spades. He’s completely overwhelming for normal college basketball players, simply too physical and too athletic for them to deal with. The only ones who can are future NBA players themselves who are already developed as the best upperclassmen in the sport. Even in those matchups, the best athletes of college basketball can only contain Flagg or slow him down momentarily, there’s no way to fully halt his impact. Every game you feel his presence on the court.

This brings us to the Sixers of it all. As most everyone knows, the team sits at 20-34, 11th in the Eastern Conference standings, and holding the sixth-worst record in the NBA (though they are tied with Brooklyn in all of those regards). The Sixers only retain their first-round pick if it stays in the top six of the draft. If the pick falls anywhere below that, it goes to the OKC Thunder, bringing their collective draft capital up to roughly 20,794 picks in total over the next five years.

The Sixers' Vacation From Accountability Is Almost Over

According to Tankathon, the Sixers currently have an 8.3% chance to land the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. In total, they only have a 43.4% chance of holding onto the pick entirely. Those odds aren’t ideal on the surface, but consider the alternative.

The odds that the Sixers crack the top 10 in the East and make the Play-In are definitely better than 8.3%, and honestly maybe better than 43.4%. The conference is not that impressive, and all four teams directly in front of them (Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Orlando) have losing records. Passing one or two of those teams is far from impossible. The chances the Sixers survive the Play-In, however, are a good bit lower. More importantly, the odds that the Sixers could upset one of the Cavs, the Celtics, or whoever they might play in a first-round series have grown increasingly worse as the season’s progressed. Even then, while upsetting one of those teams would fulfill the goal of the Sixers beating a good team in the playoffs during this era, it doesn’t even guarantee that they would make it past the second round and into the conference finals.

Deciding whether to keep pushing in the chips to try and win games during the final third of the season vs going all in on the tank comes down to one question: Do the Sixers have a better chance of accomplishing something meaningful during the 2025 postseason than they do of landing the first overall pick in the draft? It’s okay to think the first option is the more likely one. It’s also okay to prefer that the team put forward a more entertaining product over the final 28 regular season games rather than going all in on accumulating losses.

Personally, I find the Sixers landing the first overall pick and Cooper Flagg more realistic, even if there is only an 8.3% chance of it happening right now. Not only that, but acquiring Flagg is the most meaningful step the franchise could take toward making that oft-desired postseason run. He offers both the potential of being a superstar cornerstone in the future, and contributing to winning right away, seeing as his whole career he’s done nothing but win, even despite being the youngest guy on the court.

It’s felt like a lost Sixers season for quite a while now. Hanging onto that top-six pick would already make it feel a lot more worthwhile, and even more so if that pick turned into Flagg. He’s not just a good prospect worth looking at, he’s a historically great prospect who makes all the losses worth it.

He’s a prospect worth tanking for.

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Daniel Olinger is a writer for the Rights To Ricky Sanchez, and author of “The Danny” column, even though he refuses to be called that in person. He can be followed on X @dan_olinger.

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