The Team USA ramp-up process for the 2024 Paris Olympics isn't only a chance for stars such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant to dazzle the world with the team-up of a lifetime. After all, those players, as great as they may be, won't be playing the game of basketball for a living forever.Thus, it's imperative for the program to start building up the next big stars that will be assuming the leadership mantle, and so far, Cooper Flagg is turning heads everywhere with his tantalizing potential.
Flagg, who has committed to play for Jon Scheyer and the Duke Blue Devils basketball program for the 2024-25 season, is looking like the next big thing. Only 17 years old at the time of writing, he is already making NBA front offices salivate over his incredible defensive and shot-creation for his size (6'9).
But for New Orleans Pelicans forward Trey Murphy, who got an up-close and personal look at Cooper Flagg after suiting up for the Team USA select team, his mindset will go a long way towards determining just how far he can go. Flagg, according to Murphy, seemed a little bit too willing to defer to his teammates in the beginning of the scrimmages, but when his confidence rose, the quality of his play went up with it.
“I think the biggest thing for him is his mentality. The first day he was a little more passive trying to figure out where he fits in for the select team playing against these guys. Then the second day he came out and just hooped. He went at guys, he took shots that I didn’t think he had and he still hit those shots,” Murphy said in an appearance on The Roommates Podcast with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart.
At such a young age, Cooper Flagg has already been displaying such advanced feel for the game, and he didn't look like he was a deer in the headlights at all, which cannot be downplayed given how inexperienced he is relative to those he was sharing a court with. Trey Murphy gave the incoming Duke freshman his sign of approval that he, indeed, played like he belongs.
“He was playing good defense, he looked like he belonged out there and for a guy who is 17 or 18 years old to be out there with future Hall Of Famer’s and look like he belongs, that’s really a testament to him as a player,” Murphy added.
Indeed, it's a bit of a shame that the Team USA final roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics didn't include Cooper Flagg in the end. They have included collegiate stars in Olympic rosters in the past, most recently with Anthony Davis in 2012. Davis, as we all know, has become one of the best players in the association. But now, Flagg is already staking his claim for a spot in Team USA's roster for the 2027 FIBA World Cup in Qatar and the 2028 Olympics stateside in Los Angeles.
End of an era is coming for Team USA
As mentioned earlier, three of the best players that will be representing Team USA in Paris are aging; LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant are all on the wrong side of 30, with James turning 40 years of age at the end of December.
James may not have suited up for Team USA since the 2012 London Olympics, but he has been a huge part of the national team for the first decade of his career. However, James has already said that this will be the final time he represents his country in the Olympics.
Meanwhile, Durant is already a three-time Olympic gold medal winner; winning a fourth would put him in exceptionally rarefied air. But Durant has had a few injury problems of his own in recent years, and he's turning 36 years old in September. This, more likely than not, will be his final push for a gold.
Thus, the end of an era may be coming soon, and it may be coming fast. But Team USA need not worry. International powerhouses may be rising, what with Victor Wembanyama looking like he's poised to take over the basketball world for the next 10 to 15 years, but Team USA has a good pipeline of talent coming up — with Cooper Flagg looking like a fixture of the team for years to come.
Aside from Flagg, Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, Devin Booker, Tyrese Haliburton, Jalen Brunson, and Paolo Banchero, among others, should be ready and able to take on the responsibility to lead Team USA to continued success.
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