Flagg's 'no fear' approach in Team USA scrimmage draws rave reviews - ESPN

LAS VEGAS — A 3-pointer over Anthony Davis, swish. A baseline turnaround over Jrue Holiday, easy. An acrobatic putback after crashing the boards and getting fouled by Bam Adebayo, no problem.

Those are three of the best defenders in the NBA.

Cooper Flagg is 17 years old. He held his own against them all.

The story of practice for the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team on Monday was Flagg, who hasn't even played his first college game yet. The Duke freshman — part of the select team that was invited to work out against the Olympic squad during its training camp and projected by ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft — looked totally at ease going against some of the league's biggest names.

«The opportunity, it was great,» Flagg said. «It was a blessing to be here. I think just the physicality, and just the level of where I want to get to, there's a lot to get better at, a lot where I need to keep improving. This showed just how big the details are.»

He will surely get better. That might be a scary concept.

«He kicked butt here,» said U.S. select team coach Jamahl Mosley of the Orlando Magic. «There's a respect factor for what he's done. People who have not seen him play, as he gets himself going within the game, they quickly see what he can do.»

The select team is typically made up of young NBA players, brought in to scrimmage the national team and help it prepare for either World Cup or Olympic competition. Flagg was the first college player asked to be part of the select team since Doug McDermott and Marcus Smart were invited to join a minicamp in 2013.

But those situations weren't anywhere near the same as Flagg being part of this camp. McDermott had played 110 college games