By the time Cooper Flagg was born on Dec. 21, 2006, LeBron James was already a two-time All-Star. Now, the 17-year-old Duke basketball rookie, the youngest player and only collegian on the USA Basketball Select Team currently in Las Vegas helping Team USA prepare for the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris beginning later this month, is on the same court as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
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On Sunday, Flagg and his professional teammates battled James and Team USA in a scrimmage at the UNLV practice facility.
Judging by a couple of leaked highlights from the scrimmage and the handshake line afterward, it’s safe to say the 6-foot-9, 205-pound Flagg, who finished No. 1 overall on the 247Sports 2024 Composite and is the favorite to go No. 1 at next summer’s NBA Draft, impressed James and others on hand.
There was the following sequence on offense, where Cooper Flagg saw his pull-up floater swatted by James’ Los Angeles Lakers co-star in big man Anthony Davis, snagged the loose ball, passed it out of traffic, cut to the basket, and received a dime for the baseline slam:
Flagg, the all-time most heralded recruit from Maine, headlines a six-deep Duke basketball freshman class that ranks No. 1 in the country. They join two key returning pieces in guards Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster, along with four inbound transfers, for Jon Scheyer’s third season as head coach of the Blue Devils.
Their 2024-24 campaign tips off on Nov. 4 when they welcome Maine to Cameron Indoor Stadium
“No, I can not,” Embiid answered without even attempting the trick. “Probably the only guy on the team who can’t.”
The Philadelphia 76ers center was wrong about the second part.
“I can do a lot of things with a basketball. A lot of things,” said Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, a four-time NBA champion, two-time league MVP and two-time Finals MVP. “That is the one thing that I can not do.”
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