Fantasy Sports

The Fantasy Basketball Case For and Against Cooper Flagg

Alan Goldsher

Should you chase former Duke star Cooper Flagg in your fantasy hoops draft? Maybe.
Should you chase former Duke star Cooper Flagg in your fantasy hoops draft? Maybe. / David Banks-Imagn Images
In this story:

Tomorrow morning, will the sun will rise in the East?

Yep.

This coming Monday, will you wish it was still Sunday?

Yep.

Next Thursday, will Cooper Flagg be a Dallas Maverick?

Yep.

Plant Your Flagg

Thanks to some astounding ping-pong ball juju, the Dallas Mavericks lucked into the first pick of the 2025 NBA Draft, as well as a potentially generational prospect in Cooper Flagg.

In his 2024 freshman season at Duke, Flagg lived up to the high school hype, averaging 19.2 points on 48% shooting to go with his 7.5. boards and 4.2 dimes. Little wonder he took home the hardware for National Player of the Year.

And little wonder that Dallas GM Nico Harrison and Mavs Nation are licking their collective chops.

But should fantasy basketball owners do some chop licking of their own?

That gets a big ol’ maybe.

Scoop Coop or Bag Flagg?

In terms of fantasy hoops production, sometimes you just know that a number one pick is going to rack up the digits—Victor Wembanyama averaged 50.8 DraftKings points in his rookie year, which we all saw coming—while in other instances, who the hell knows? (We’re talking to you, Markelle Fultz).

Flagg’s fantasy ceiling is somewhere in between Wemby and Fultz, but considerably closer to Wemby's.

Possibly.

Let’s bang out some pros and cons:

The Case For

In both high school and college, Flagg was a box score stuffer:

POINTS

  • Montverde Academy Regional High: 16.1 PPG
  • Duke: 19.2 PPG

REBOUNDS

  • Montverde Academy: 7.6 RPG
  • Duke: 7.5 RPG

ASSISTS

  • Montverde Academy: 3.9 APG
  • Duke: 4.2 APG

STEALS

  • Montverde Academy: 1.6 SPG
  • Duke: 1.4 SPG

BLOCKS

  • Montverde Academy: 2.7 BPG
  • Duke: 1.4 BPG

SHOOTING PERCENTAGE

  • Montverde Academy: 54.8 FG%
  • Duke: 48.1 FG%

FREE THROW PERCENTAGE

  • Montverde Academy: Not officially reported
  • Duke: 84.0 FT%

TURNOVERS

  • Montverde Academy: Not officially reported
  • Duke: 2.1 TOPG

His numbers at both levels were similar across the board, with notable a jump in scoring, giving one confidence that he’ll thrive—or, at the very least, survive—his rookie season at his next next level.

The Case Against

We don’t have written proof of this, but it’s fair to assume that, as was the case at Montverde and Duke, Flagg was the alpha dog of his elementary school team, meaning he’s been the number one option for his entire basketball life.

In Dallas, he’ll be the number two option behind Anthony Davis. And if the knee-challenged Kyrie Irving returns to the lineup doing Kyrie Irving things, Flagg will slip to number three. Or maybe two-point-five.

Flagg seems to be a willing teammate, so he’ll play his role to a T, and that’ll probably earn him Rookie of the Year honors. But transitioning into a beta dog will very much diminish both his total minutes and fantasy value.

The Case For

Fantasyland pundits have comped Flagg to Scottie Pippen and Andrei Kirilenko, two of the scariest and most reliable fake hoops options in fake hoops history. (Admittedly, fake hoops was barely a thing when Pippen was a thing, but, depending on the scoring system, his nightly fantasy point average would’ve landed in the high-30s. For context, fantasy-wise, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the NBA in 2025 with approximately 32 points a night, as per NBA.com

In the Big D, despite having the fewest opportunities of his amateur hoops career, Flagg should be able to make up any stat regression with some quality numbers in both of the hustle categories.

The Case Against

Coop will roll into his rookie year standing a scootch under 6’8” and weighing 221 pounds, 15 fewer pounds than another one of his comps, Scottie Barnes. If he’s asked to play any power forward—and he will, as Caleb Martin sits behind Anthony Davis on Dallas’ current depth chart—he’ll get pushed around the paint, Night at the Roxbury style.

Verdict

Flagg is a season or two away from being worthy of a first-round fantasy pick, especially considering that the current NBA statistical landscape is super-top-heavy. (Jokic? Wemby? Giannis? Luka? SGA? Tyrese? The Ant Man? The Beard? Spida? Flagg ain’t cracking that lot anytime soon.)

At this point, he wouldn’t—and shouldn’t—be drafted ahead of, say, Jalen Williams, whose current average draft position (ADP), as per Fantasy Pros, comes in at 38, making Flagg worthy of a fourth- or fifth-round selection.

But come 2027, look out.

Published |Modified
Alan Goldsher
ALAN GOLDSHER

Alan Goldsher has written about sports for Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Apple, Playboy, NFL.com, and NBA.com, and he’s the creator of the Chicago Sports Stuff Substack. He’s the bestselling author of 15 books, and the founder/CEO of Gold Note Records. Alan lives in Chicago, where he writes, makes music, and consumes and creates way too much Bears content. You can visit him at http://www.AlanGoldsher.com and http://x.com/AlanGoldsher.

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