Cooper Flagg is still a few months away from making it to the NBA but he’s already making people eat their words. After his stellar display in the Duke Blue Devils’ win over the Arizona Wildcats, former Pacers star Jeff Teague was the latest former non-believer to change his stance.
Teague, who had formerly questioned Cooper’s abilities, apologized for undermining him as a player.
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During the game in question, the freshman scored 24 points, hauled in seven rebounds, and dished three assists in the 69-55 win for the Blue Devils. His performance prompted fans to call out Teague, who acknowledged that he jumped the gun in forming his opinion about the young forward. He said on the latest episode of the 520 Podcast,
“Ok, I was wrong. Cooper Flagg is f**king 17… I was so wrong! Whoever run the Duke [social media] page, they told me, ‘He doesn’t turn 18 [until December 21st]. He leads our team in every stat’… Everybody in the world wrote me when they beat Arizona, and he killed. [They said], ‘Stupid motherf**ker yada yada yada…’ I was like, ‘Oh my god!'”
On a previous episode of the podcast, Teague compared Flagg to former Hawks star Josh Smith. The retired guard had a decent career in the NBA after being 17th overall in the 2004 draft. However, he was expected to be a superstar when he was in high school. He didn’t live up to his billing and Teague suggested he expected the same from Flagg. He said,
“I have seen Josh Smith in high school. He was Cooper Flagg bro. [But] he was way more athletic. He blocked shots, did all that… I ain’t saying Cooper Flagg isn’t a killer. I’m saying I’ve seen that player before.”
Teague claimed that Flagg’s success in AAU tournaments and in high school was because he played on stacked teams. However, after watching him in action for Duke, he has backtracked on his opinion and believes he’s worthy of the praise and hype.
While Teague represented the NBA community that wasn’t buying into the Cooper Flagg hype, Kevin Garnett other side. From the moment the Duke star started coming up as a potential star, Ganrett confessed his belief in Flagg’s abilities.
Kevin Garnett is a massive fan of Cooper Flagg
During an episode of the All The Smoke podcast, the Hall of Famer revealed he was as impressed with the forward’s leadership skills as much as he was with his playing ability. He said,
“When it comes to being a leader, with all the exposure he has gotten in high school, he is used to leading a team, he is used to the attention. He is used to walking to the gym and people knowing who he is, that superstardom, that follows you… When you’re joining a team, that’s what you’re locking into the links of the other greats around you and the other good players that are around you.”
Garnett even claimed that Flagg was good enough to go straight to the NBA from high school and wouldn’t have needed a year in college had it not been for the league’s rules. The 17-year-old is expected to be the top pick in the 2025 NBA draft and carry the burden of a franchise’s fortunes.
However, the Celtics icon has complete faith that he’d have no trouble thriving in the spotlight and becoming a cornerstone of the team that’s fortunate enough to draft him.
