Channing Frye Shuts Down Cooper Flagg Comparisons to Larry Bird

Cooper Flagg’s two-way abilities and collegiate accolades have created massive hype around him ahead of his NBA debut. Comparisons with legends have already begun, with everyone already on the same page that he has the makings of becoming a generational talent.

Flagg dominated high school and college and was a no-brainer pick at #1 for the Dallas Mavericks. He does everything well, from passing to defending to scoring, and has already proved that he can rub shoulders with legends, having gone head-to-head with Team USA players in a scrimmage last summer.

Some have likened Flagg to Larry Bird coming out of college, which might be a stretch at this early stage. Channing Frye agrees. Instead, there’s another player he feels Flagg is more comparable to.

Frye sees Andre Iguodala, which, while perhaps not a disrespectful dig, is a huge step down from the Boston Celtics legend as far as comparisons go. And Frye doesn’t want to get too hot and bothered by Flagg’s potential just yet.

“Insane,” Frye stated on Road Trippin’, when Bird’s name came up next to Flagg’s. “Like an Andre Iguodala, to be honest,” he added.

“Like a jack of all trades guy. He’s just not that athletic. To me, he does everything well… Coming out of college, Andre was one of the most talented players I’ve ever seen,” elaborated Frye.

However, it is hard to agree with Frye here. Flagg may not turn out to be a Bird-esque player, but Iguodala averaged just 9 points and 6 rebounds in his rookie season. Those are numbers Flagg should easily surpass in his first year.

But then Frye seemed to be looking at Flagg’s game from a different perspective. It’s common for the 18-year-old to be compared to Bird, another prominent white player in NBA history. That seemed to annoy Frye a bit. And he tried to think of a player without considering race as a factor.

“How tall is Gordon Hayward?” Frye asked. “I’m just asking a question since you’re comparing white guys to white guys.”

The former Cleveland Cavaliers’ co-host, Richard Jefferson, immediately cleared the air by stating that it wasn’t about race. But inevitably, even he ended up somewhat comparing Flagg to Hayward while debunking Frye’s Iguodala comparison. 

“Andre was more of a setup guy. I think that would be where, you know, Gordon Hayward was more of a scorer than Andre… And I think that’s what I would say with Cooper Flagg in that type of space. That’s all,” Jefferson concluded. 

All in all, it was a bit of a confusing discussion that had Frye and Jefferson going in circles over who Flagg can be compared to. Maybe that’s a sign he’s a unique generational talent the league has never seen before. Or maybe it simply means he’s hard to define without any NBA action on tape.

Soon, we’ll all see what Flagg is truly about. There are massive expectations on his shoulders, but he’s shown at every stage of his life so far that he’s ready for the challenge. It’ll be exciting to see if he can live up to the hype.