A General Cooper Flagg Update
Including Coach K’s comments on Flagg’s looming NBA decision
As the regular season winds down, the discussion about Cooper Flagg - will he stay? will he go? - is going to heat up.
In this clip, Bill Simmons talks about Flagg’s potential and where he might end up if he enters June’s draft. The odds favor three teams - the Washington Wizards, the Charlotte Hornets, and the Utah Jazz.
Simmons probably didn’t make many friends in DC as he said this about Flagg-as-a-Wizard: “I don’t know how many guys on the Wizards are even going to be on that team in the next three years. You want to build around him right away.”
Not a bad point and possibly a reasonable argument for staying at Duke: Washington has been a train wreck for decades.
The idea of Flagg taking a second year, in Durham, which he said he wouldn’t mind, has caught the attention of a lot of people, including former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who weighed in with these comments:
“There’s a lot of factors in there. But in Cooper’s case, one, he should do whatever he wants. My thing is, just be smart. Be smart for you. You only get to do this once, and you’re only going to get to do it for a certain amount of time. Really, you’re talking about generational wealth – really good generational wealth, if you do it the right way.”
It’s hard to argue with the money, but as some other people have pointed out, Flagg has the potential to make a tremendous amount of money next year whether it’s in the NBA or at Duke.
The big problem is how long it takes him to get to his second contract, which is when the big money kicks in. However, as Duke legend Grant Hill learned from his father Calvin, it’s not what you make, it’s what you save.
If he does return next year, Flagg will have immense name recognition and a chance at making a great deal of money.
When Zion Williamson faced a similar choice, Coach K told him he had no choice. Today though, Flagg does, and clearly he’s enjoying his time at Duke. This is going to be really interesting however it works out.
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