Cooper Flagg and Travis Hunter have been the main topic of conversation for their respective sports throughout the season, but one major analyst sees a lot more comparisons between the two than just their high profiles.
Flagg has yet to formally announce his intentions to enter the 2025 NBA Draft, which will be official soon, while Hunter is finishing his preparations for the NFL Draft in less than two weeks, and each are expected to be picked quickly.
The Duke basketball superstar is projected to the No. 1 selection in June while Hunter, a two-way phenomenon, is likely to land a home inside the Top 5.
Yet ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla dove into the tape on Flagg in preparation for the NBA Draft and sees more and more parallels to Hunter.
Studying @DukeMBB Cooper Flagg this morning for NBA Draft & he’s even better than I thought. (Saw him live 3 times),” he posted on X Thursday morning.
“He reminds me of @CUBuffsFootball Travis Hunter in that he is elite on both sides of ball. Ball skills for size are elite. And, he shot 44% from 3 in last 27 games. Very few weaknesses. VERY FEW.”
Studying @DukeMBB Cooper Flagg this morning for NBA Draft & he’s even better than I thought. (Saw him live 3 times) He reminds me of @CUBuffsFootball Travis Hunter in that he is elite on both sides of ball. Ball skills for size are elite. And, he shot 44% from 3 in last 27 games.…
— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) April 10, 2025
Flagg won every induvial honor possible in his freshman season with the Blue Devils as the consensus National Player of the Year, First Team All-American, ACC Player of the Year, and National Freshman of the Year.
His college career, however, ended in disappointing after Duke blew a late lead in the Final Four against Houston, preventing them a spot in the National Championship. A title would have put Cooper Flagg in the conversation with Carmelo Anthony and Anthony Davis for the greatest season by a freshman in college basketball history.
Still, he projects to be a franchise cornerstone for whichever organization wins the NBA Draft Lottery and selects him with the top pick.
“Made for NBA offenses,” Fraschilla continued. “Open court assassin, catch & shoot, ‘stampede’ drives off closeouts, pull-up jumpers, post-ups, face-ups off the lane, elite ball skills in tight quarters, finishes with both hands.”
The race for Cooper Flagg has been intense in the NBA this season but there is nothing more teams can do to try and land the No. 1 overall pick, it’s all up to the luck of the ping pong ball now.