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Duke basketball star and projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft Cooper Flagg made headlines this summer when he was named to the Team USA select team. With the Select Team, he was able to scrimmage against Team USA stars like LeBron James, Steph Curry and Anthony Davis.
Flagg and his head coach at Duke, Jon Scheyer, spoke about his experience with Team USA in an interview with ESPN NBA Draft analyst Jonathan Givony on Wednesday.
“I think I held my own and that’s all it really was. It was just an opportunity for me to learn, taking things that I saw in their workouts, practices,” Flagg said. “Like those are all really high level guys who are the future of the NBA. So I think just getting that experience and just learning and trying to soak it all in was a huge success for me.”
“For me it was just great to see USA team practice and you’re picking things up and you’re watching LeBron and Steph and KD and obviously you’re watching Cooper practice,” Scheyer said. “Then as they got into the scrimmaging, I thought Day One he was just getting his feet wet and then I think he realized, man I can compete with these guys and on Day Two he was Cooper.”
Not many college basketball players, especially 17-year-old freshmen, get the chance to represent their country and compete against the best players in the world. Expectations are already sky-high for Flagg, but after the way he handled himself this summer there is even more reason to believe the hype ahead of the upcoming Duke basketball season.
Cooper Flagg's expectations heading into the 2024-25 season with Duke basketball
Flagg is one of the most highly-anticipated freshman college basketball has ever seen. The reigning Gatorade National Player of the Year and Naismith Player of the year, the 6-9, 205 Flagg can truly do it all on the court. He can guard 1-5, score on all three levels and is already expected to be one of the most athletic players in the country.
Duke was ranked as the No. 8 team in college basketball in ESPN's most recent top-25 list. With a roster largely featuring transfers and other freshman, the pressure will be on for Flagg to lead the Blue Devils.
If Flagg is able to play the way he did in the scrimmages against Team USA over the summer for Duke, then there is no doubt that the Blue Devils will be one of the best teams in the country and that Flagg will be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
