Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett can’t wait to watch potential 2025 No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick Cooper Flagg play at Duke University this upcoming season.
(via Ticket & The Truth | KG Certified):
All The Smoke Productions: “We see Cooper Flagg, he’s an excellent player, but there’s still that NBA jump that you gotta have. How do you feel so confident in that pick?”
Garnett: “I’ve seen Cooper Flagg play against NBA players, like I’ve literally seen it. You’ve seen it, everybody in this room saw it right? So I’m not going off of that, but when I am gauging a player to see where he is as far as progression and if he’s going to be able to A, B, and C in our league… Man, what I saw was a great test of what it’s gon’ take to be able to be on this level. I just saw a little bit of it, now I ain’t seen him against someone his age. I ain’t seen him against someone that’s younger than him. I ain’t seen him play against collegiate players and players that’s you know, so I’m looking forward to that. But when you are building a team, your best player has to have certain things here that hit. And I think when it comes to being a leader, I think all the exposure he’s gotten in high school, he’s used to leading the team. He’s used to the attention. He’s used to walking into the gym and people knowing who he is. That superstardom, that follows you. You have to have that to be on a team. When you join a team, that’s what you’re locking into: the links of the other greats around you and the other good players that’s around you. So, that’s kinda what I’m looking at. Cooper, I ain’t really heard him speak a lot, but when I watch him play, yeah, he got superstar around him. I can see kids wanting to be like that and play like that. Like real talk, when I see him move I’m like, ‘OK, if he add on ah, ah, ah. You see the bones.’ You remember when Paolo [Banchero] was at Duke and he was playing the collegiate game and we kept saying, ‘His game gon’ look better when he gets to the league.’? That’s kinda how I’m looking at Cooper Flagg. He gon’ go to Duke, he gon’ learn something. But he’s already polished enough to be considered on the next level, so that’s what I’m looking at. He got that superstar potential that you could come in and put product behind him. We ain’t had no badass cold-ass white boy like this in a long time, I’m just saying. That’s on some real s***. Like this MFer coming in here, I’m talking about on some like, ‘Yeah, I’m in here.’”
All The Smoke Productions: “He’s got a New Balance deal. He’s going to Duke. He’s got a great road ahead of him.”
Garnett: “He got the wave, man. He got the wave behind him, now we’re gon’ to see how you grow. How you gon’ develop? Can you be that? Are you that dude? I seen Chris Webber come in. I seen freshmen come in they first year and show out. Let’s see it.”
