Kevin Love says young 'unicorns' taking basketball to 'amazing place' - ESPN

As a freshman at UCLA nearly 20 years ago, Kevin Love was viewed as a unique talent because of his passing ability and offensive versatility, but the five-time NBA All-Star said there is a new crop of «unicorns» that are more advanced than players of his generation at this stage.

«Now, you're getting these guys that are 6-8 plus, 6-10, 7 feet tall, that are just really doing everything out there on the floor,» Love told ESPN on Wednesday. «And I think it's just incredibly hard to guard and it's taking the game to a really amazing place as well, because you're seeing these guys that are unicorns out there, guys that are really doing everything and refining their skills, whereas in the past they might not have worked on these things.

»The growth within the game, it's really amazing to see where it has gone, especially in the skill and player development at an even earlier age."

Love pointed to Duke's Cooper Flagg, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft, and Cam Boozer, the five-star recruit who will follow Flagg as the staple of Jon Scheyer's next recruiting class with the Blue Devils, as examples.

Love, who surprised Boozer with his second Gatorade national player of the year award this week, said the two young stars — and other players like them — will enter the next stage of their careers with a skillset that were once foreign to players at their positions.

«I mean, he'll grab the ball off the backboard, take it all the way down and, if somebody doesn't stop him from putting it in the rim, he'll pull up, he'll get to that next situation,» Love said of Boozer. «He'll work from the mid-post. He's handling the ball. He's passing the ball and getting his teammates involved.

»It has really become, like I said,