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By TJ Macias
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Cooper Flagg is still figuring out himself on the court, but Dallas Mavericks fans are already labeling the young forward as a “sensation,” especially when paired up with Kyrie Irving, who had to watch from the sidelines while recovering from ACL surgery during Flagg’s rough first season.
After slamming the undefeated Houston Rockets on Friday, everyone has thoughts on the kid’s rise in the pros, especially Max Kellerman, who has already started comparing Flagg to one of the greats.
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“Okay, here’s the basketball topic for me today,” Kellerman said on his “Game Over” podcast with Rich Paul. “Cooper Flagg is setting the world on fire. He’s 19-years-old, he’s still growing. He’s almost seven feet tall at this point. He is the best 19-year-old since LeBron James. He is a better defender than LeBron at the same age. He is a better free throw shooter than LeBron at the same age. He is obviously taller than LeBron. He’s not the passer LeBron was.”
“I’m not saying he’s better but he’s in that conversation of like, ‘oh my god, can you believe this?’ He’s also an American-born white player right? Like how many of those are left to who is elite?”
Those are some strong, and I mean STRONG words.
However, Kellerman did admit that Flagg is a hard sell when compared to other elite NBA legends.
“Shaq was the biggest, strongest guy. (Michael) Jordan was something we’d never seen before right? Like oh my god, it’s Dr. J, plus he can do all this stuff. So that’s like something new,” Kellerman continued. ”LeBron is Magic plus Michael. Then you have Steph, oh my god, he can shoot. Shaq, oh my god, the’s the biggest strongest guy. Wemby’s freakishly tall. And Cooper doesn’t have any one single thing like that. He’ll just kill you a million different ways.”
Paul hopped in to say that ‘kill you a million different ways is a hard sell.
“It’s like come see a guy who’s really good at basketball,” Paul noted. “It’s different than saying like, we got, we have, like the bearded lady. Like, there’s something we can market. Like, this guy, he’s really good.”
Through five games this season, Flagg is averaging 26.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game.
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