Cooper Flagg's similarity to an NBA legend is unmistakable ahead of Duke debut

Elite prospect Cooper Flagg is expected to be selected first overall in the NBA 2025 Draft and will play for Duke this season. That will only add to the attention and hype surrounding him, with Flagg seen as a generational prospect who can quickly lead a struggling NBA team back to success.

Recently, NBA legend Kevin Garnett praised Flagg, giving him a big stamp of approval. After all, Garnett was a top teenage prospect who evolved into a two-way superstar the way that Flagg is projected to.

With the similarities between Garnett and Flagg, Flagg himself admitted that he modeled his game after Garnett. If he can become the next KG, then he could indeed be a generational star considering that Garnett is a top 20 player all-time.

How good can Duke star Cooper Flagg be in the NBA?

Flagg played against several NBA stars over the summer as a member of the USA Select team and surprisingly held his own in a scrimmage. He scored seven points and looked comfortable playing against the best players in the NBA despite being only 17 years old at the time.

That is a good indication of his talent level at this stage of his career but he will soon play his first college game for Duke and we will get a better indication. While the talent level at the college level isn't what it used to be, it will give us a baseline in which to compare him to other recent number-one overall picks.

While there have been several highly touted prospects in recent years, including Luka Doncic and Victor Wembanyama, they both played professionally instead of college basketball. That is part of the appeal of Flagg, who is likely the most hyped American prospect since Zion Williamson in 2019 and Anthony Davis back in 2012.

Cooper Flagg is the NBA's next great American hope.

Considering how the NBA's top players are Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Luka Doncic, and Giannis Antokounmpo and how Victor Wembanyama is rapidly ascending, most of the games' best players are international stars.

That has led to concerns about who will step up to represent the U.S. when superstars like LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant retire. If Flagg is as good as people like Garnett believe him to be, then he could emerge as the best American player in the NBA in about five years.