How Good Is Cooper Flagg Actually

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Cooper Flagg is the most accomplished NBA prospect since LeBron James. Flagg was the best player in the state of Maine as a 14-year-old freshman. Then he went to Montverde and won a national championship with an undefeated season. At age 17, Coop dominated while scrimmaging with NBA players in preparation for the 2024 Olympics. And because he was so good, Cooper skipped his final year of high school only to win national player of the year with Duke as the second youngest player in the NCAA.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:25)
He's dominated 15s, he's dominated 16s, he's dominated 17s, he's dominated 18s and 19s in college. If he keep going that in four years, three, four years, come on.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:35)
After he became the first pick in the 2025 draft and joined the NBA, the domination continued. The main event quickly started breaking records, becoming the youngest player to score over 40 points in a game, the youngest to have three consecutive 30-point games, and with a 49-point game against Charlotte, he became the teenager with the most points in NBA history, only to break his record with a 51-point masterpiece against Orlando.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:58)
Yeah, he got superstar around him. I can see kids wanting to be like that and play like that.

**SPEAKER_1** (1:03)
However, it's not all ideal, and the biggest obstacle to Flagg becoming a superstar is shooting. Among the 287 players who have attempted 103s during the 2026 season, Flagg ranks only 273rd in efficiency. So how good is Cooper Flagg actually? And is he really going to become one of the best players in the NBA?
Cooper Flagg was destined to become an NBA player. Basketball was in his blood, as both of his parents played college basketball. Cooper's mother, Kelly Bowman Flagg, was a team captain at the University of Maine, leading the Black Bears to a historic upset over Stanford in the NCAA tournament, Maine's first ever win during March Madness. The 5'10 Kelly wasn't a star, she was a glue guy, a person who worked hard and set the tone in practice. Cooper's dad, Ralph Flagg, was a 6'9 role player at Eastern Maine Community College, and was also a hard worker. Those same principles were instilled in their three sons, who were deeply in love with basketball from an early age. In the Flagg household, basketball was consummated every day. Kelly coached the Nokomis Varsity Girls team at Nokomis High School, and going to their games was mandatory activity for Cooper. They also watched a ton of basketball games, especially the 1980s Celtics. Growing up, Cooper, his twin brother Ace, and their older brother Hunter trained together nonstop with endless late night shootouts and one-on-one battles.

**Kelly Bowman Flagg** (2:20)
Our three boys played one-on-one-on-one, and they did it. It was an almost daily ritual for a while. If you scored, you stayed. We gave it 30 minutes. We would sit on the couch in the living room and be watching TV, and about 30 minutes go by, and suddenly we heard the front door open and then slam.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:38)
They pushed each other to get better, and when he reached the sixth grade, Cooper was already way ahead of the competition. So in order to improve, Kelly took Cooper and Ace to train with their future mentor Matt McKenzie, a guy who would change the trajectory of Coop's career. McKenzie was a basketball fanatic, a former wing at Husson University, who had become a private trainer. Matt had just opened a gym close to Cooper's hometown of Newport, looking for talented kids ready to work hard. From day one, Cooper and Ace locked in. You could see it, especially with Coop. His intensity was unreal for his age. His attention to detail, his focus, it was like he already understood what this was going to take. Ace and Cooper worked hard. They listened. Then they went home and worked even more. You could tell right away they were applying what we did. Week to week, they'd come back and you could actually see the growth. Most kids don't show that. Most kids need reminders. These two didn't, Coop especially. From the age of 12 when he first met Matt McKenzie, to the age of 14 when he became a freshman in high school, Cooper was one of the tallest kids in his age group, and he was already practicing like an NBA player. When Cooper was 13, McKenzie called his friend Brian Scalabrine, the Celtics legend, to come take a look at Cooper.

**Brian Scalabrine** (3:47)
Matt McKenzie, Cooper's trainer, called me up and said, I got this kid who's 13 years old that can play with the University of Maine kids. And I'm like, there's no way.