Cooper Flagg: A Two-Way Force of the Future
One of the top high school prospects in recent memory, Flagg's summer deserves being celebrated
As a high school coach and former D3 assistant, I spend a ton of time watching high school hoops. I’ve been pretty familiar with the AAU circuit for some time and seen dozens of top prospects play firsthand. I’ve been lucky (or unlucky) to coach against lottery picks and All-Americans, sat in practices while five-stars go to work feet away from me, and been doing this long enough to see where those guys end up with their collegiate and pro careers.
When a player truly impresses me at the AAU level, I tend to take notice. That’s why the last fourteen months or so of Cooper Flagg’s journey to becoming potentially the top prospect in the entire world has been so damn fun to watch. Everything he’s accomplished, the growth of his game, and just the manner in which he goes about his business is incredibly impressive.
During this AAU season, Flagg averaged 26.5 points, 11.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 4.8 blocks on shooting splits of 50/33/83. Those absurd statistics haven’t just placed Flagg on the short list of ‘best prospect in the world’ discussions but make him a player that all draft analysts will watch moving forward. Flagg has the option of re-classing so that he can enter the 2025 NBA Draft (as of now, his anticipated high school graduation would put him in the 2026 draft). Doing homework this early on for a prospect like him is a necessary practice so that teams can truly contextualize what the top of the next draft class might look like.
With that in mind, I recently broke down Flagg’s game on both ends — from his defensive dominance to his blossoming isolation scoring arsenal. What I saw left me incredibly excited to see what type of player he becomes and what could be at the top of the next few draft classes after 2024.
Defense
This Spring and Summer, his 16U Maine United team played in 24 games. During those contests, opponents only shot 40.5% at the rim in the half-court, a fear-inspiring number based primarily on Cooper’s rim protection. For context, last year’s NCAA-leaders in rim FG% defense were the Alabama Crimson Tide, ceding 44.3% at the tin.
Flagg’s individual dominance has its fingerprints all over that mark. He blocked 116 shots (4.83 per game), and when listed as the primary defender on Synergy, opponents shot a whopping 25.9% at the rim in the half-court — the best mark in the entire EYBL among players to log at least 30 possessions guarded. What’s more impressive: three of his teammates are also in the top ten in rim efficiency, due in large part to Flagg’s help defense and weak-side shot-blocking.
From a help perspective, Flagg combines elite instincts with pristine mechanics. He springs to action quickly and covers a ton of ground thanks to his size and bursty athleticism. His timing is impeccable, and his ability to jump with verticality aids him in so many different ways. He avoids picking up fouls, he high points balls and sends them flying, and he can take contact to his chest to challenge drivers.
The instincts are so damn impressive, though. Flagg stares down drivers from the weak side, and while it may seem that he hunts blocks, he rarely leaves his feet without having a purpose. He’s got this innate ability to know when drivers are going to go up for a score, almost like he’s inside their mind and sees the floor the way they do. As soon as they commit, he’s violent in his explosion and committal to swatting the shot and challenging them at the rim.
As an on-ball defender, the 6’9” Flagg (listed at 6’10” on some sites) is majorly versatile. He has areas he still needs to improve (mainly playing lower in a stance) but his instincts and activity are off the charts. He looks bored when having to guard 1v1 in the low post. He’s great in space against other big wings, using violent movements and those long arms to challenge pull-ups. He switches onto smaller guards, not just containing them but even picking up in the extended court and pressuring them.
As Flagg goes against better athletes at higher levels of hoops, he’ll have to hone in on precision more frequently and build better habits. Right now, he stands up off-ball a lot — and sometimes on-ball — in an attempt to dare guys to challenge him. He’ll likely be a little less of a cross-match option for opposing guards, but the long-term intrigue of seeing a 6’9” or 6’10” forward guarding that position with success is palpable.
Despite his need to play lower, Flagg’s motor is off the charts. He dives on the floor for loose balls, contests everything near the rim, has a penchant for big plays, and never backs down from a challenge. It’s rare to find a guy of his caliber who takes very few plays off, which is part of what is endearing about Flagg as a prospect. He seems to love to compete, and when he goes, he goes really hard.
Flagg has insanely high ceilings on the defensive end as a helper and an on-ball player. What makes me so excited is looking at how the landscape of the NBA has evolved in the last few years to heighten the importance of 4-men who can switch onto smalls, lockdown the wings, and provide weak-side rim protection. That’s where guys like Jarace Walker, Taylor Hendricks, Jaren Jackson Jr., and to some extent, Chet Holmgren have all been valued as top-10 picks and important team pieces.
I believe Cooper is the most likely to end up with a Jaren Jackson Jr. type of defensive impact at some point in the NBA. It’s hard to bestow such lofty praise on a young player, but this level of dominance and versatility is so rarely seen from a kid his age that lofty goals should be what he aspires to.
Offense
For as good as Flagg has been on defense, I’m blown away by his gradual improvement on the offensive end of the floor. He averaged 26.5 PPG during the 2023 AAU season, shot 50.8% from the field, and faced a double team on the catch virtually every possession he caught the ball inside the arc. Flagg’s rebound-and-run game helps him play in transition a ton, where he’s an impactful ball handler with a tight and creative burst for his size. He loves to go behind his back and can weave through traffic all while staying balanced.
Cooper also has improved drastically as a jump shooter. While his 12-44 (27.3%) mark as a pull-up jump shooter is a low mark analytically, the degree of difficulty of many of those shots is quite high and his confidence in taking them is notable. He’ll pull over the top of smaller guys, takes self-created triples in tight spots, and has shown an ability to make step-backs or fadeaways going to his left. Last summer on the 15U circuit, he was 5-23 (17.9%). The real improvement took place during this past high school season at Montverde, and his isolation confidence has carried over to the AAU settings.
Flagg is really talented at getting to the rim. He plays a bursty style and can separate from smaller guys. He loves spin moves and is really controlled, has a great step-thru counter that is a lethal one-two punch with the spin and has touch with either hand. He’ll certainly rock the rim with electrifying and powerful slams, but his game is built on more skill than just the athleticism that makes highlights.
I have high hopes for Flagg because of his passing and the unselfishness with which he handles double teams. He’s an exceptional passer out of the post, is willing to hit others when facing up in isolation and getting extra attention, and he really involves cutters around him. Because Flagg plays a controlled game as a driver off two feet, he’s able to find those players around him without being too turnover-prone.
The jumper can improve a bit more and he’ll need to keep adding layers to his game, but the base on which everything is built is really strong. Flagg has gotten so much better over the last season that it’s impossible not to be incredibly encouraged about him potentially filling a #1 creator spot someday.
Long-Term Outlook
I want to contextualize what we just saw from Flagg during this AAU season and offer some clarifying comments about the eye-popping question on my video headline asking if Flagg is the best prospect since LeBron.
Essentially, this summer we saw Flagg anchor the most dominant defense in AAU while blocking 4.6 shots per game. He did that while finishing first in scoring (among qualified players) and averaging 1.04 PPP on offense in the midst of frequent double-teams. That level of two-way proficiency and volume is rarely seen, and it speaks not just to Flagg’s well-rounded dominance but his competitive streak to put forth a 24-game sample that hits those benchmarks.
I’m not a major fan of bestowing accolades on teenagers. Flagg, like everyone else his age, has a ton he needs to keep getting better at. And there’s no way to truly know the trajectory of his growth; after all, development is not linear. But what we’re seeing from him at his age is so rare that he belongs in the upper echelon of high school prospects of the 21st century. The LeBron James, Greg Oden, Kevin Durant levels of dominance are backed up by both film and statistics. It’s not an overreaction to be this impressed with what he’s accomplished thus far.
Only time will tell what type of draft prospect Flagg will truly be, and with the possibility that he re-classes to enter the 2025 NBA Draft, we could get answers to that sooner than later. No matter what happens, those within the scouting community should be giddy with anticipation of seeing him continue to evolve, about what growth his game can achieve next, and what limits he can push as a two-way player.