The 2024 NBA Draft class may not have been the strongest, but teams with little to no hopes of winning a championship can take solace in the fact that Cooper Flagg, barring an unforeseen turn of events, will be headlining next year's draft class. Flagg, the Duke forward, looks to be a franchise-altering talent due to his projected defensive impact as well as his shot-creation tools.
But in something that would definitely raise some eyebrows, Philadelphia 76ers star Paul George compared the Duke youngster to Michael Beasley during the most recent episode of Podcast P with Paul George presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment.
“He's nice. He's kinda got a little like Michael Beasley. At that size, can score, can playmake. Super talented. Just a game-changer. I don't think people speak enough about how good Michael Beasley was or is. I still see clips to this day of him doing crazy s**t online. This motherf***er is still hooping,” George said.
Beasley has that game where his peers respect him and admire him. He is the epitome of the “that boy nice” culture — a player who can score at will and glide effortlessly around the court despite being a large human being at 6'9″. The 76ers star definitely has a soft spot for him since George himself is a smooth operator on the court like Beasley was.
However, Beasley did not exactly meet expectations relative to how high up in the draft he was selected. The Miami Heat took him second overall in the 2008 NBA Draft, and he didn't blossom into an All-Star-caliber player. A rebounding machine with Kansas State, Beasley became more of a finesse big or a tweener in the NBA, and the Heat found him expendable when they brought in LeBron James and Chris Bosh in the summer of 2011.
But it's not like George is too far off when comparing Cooper Flagg to Beasley. Flagg can also handle the rock as a 6'9″ forward, and at his best, he can be a three-level scorer and a walking mismatch problem — similar to Beasley at his best. But what separates the Duke youngster from Beasley is his defensive impact. Flagg, if all goes according to plan in his development, may be a shoo-in for All-Defensive Teams for years to come thanks to his lockdown perimeter skill and ability to protect the rim as well.
Duke's Cooper Flagg might be closer to Paolo Banchero than he is to Michael Beasley
It may be a cop-out to compare Cooper Flagg to another Duke product in Paolo Banchero, but Banchero appears to be a much more worthy comparison to the projected first overall pick of the 2025 NBA Draft. Flagg, much like Banchero, loves to handle the ball in pick-and-roll situations, and his athleticism allows him to shine from inside the perimeter.
Banchero's game is what Michael Beasley's may have been had he developed as well as he could have. The Orlando Magic star has emerged as one of the best shot-creating forwards in the game, as he lives in the midrange and he also makes his teammates better by being a willing playmaker amid all the defensive attention he's drawing.
But, again, the main difference separating Flagg as a prospect is his defensive pedigree. Banchero is no slouch defensively, but his Duke successor is simply cut from a different cloth on that end of the floor.
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