Zion Williamson and Cooper Flagg are two of the most well-known Duke basketball players in recent memory and Flagg’s NBA Draft prospectus has been studied for years, but it’s becoming more public now since the Blue Devils are in the Final Four.
All signs point to Flagg being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, joining Williamson and Paolo Banchero as recent top selections to come from Duke.
However, given the stardom behind Flagg and Zion, the debate is raging on who was the better prospect coming out of Duke.
“Cooper is more of a sure thing, so he’d be ranked slightly higher just because whatever he’s doing is going to translate [to the NBA] so well, there’s less variance with the ceiling,” NBA analyst Bill Simmons said on his podcast.
“Zion always had the higher ceiling, but he was always in the air. There was always the injury fear with him. I just think Cooper’s a safer bet.”
Like Cooper Flagg, Zion Williamson swept nearly every individual award that he could possibly win – either in the conference or nationally. Flagg was named as the Associated Press National Player of the Year on Friday at the Final Four and is the favorite to win the Naismith Award, which will be announced on Sunday.
“He’s the best ceiling prospect that’s come out of college since Zion, right?” Simmons asked during the episode.
The top selections after the Blue Devil superstar have been impressive though, with Anthony Edwards, Cade Cunningham, and Banchero being the last three No. 1 overall picks to come from college.
“There’s way more anticipation for [Cooper Flagg] than there was for Anthony Edwards,” Ryen Russillo added.
Simmons put Flagg in the same category as Anthony Davis and Williamson in terms of NBA Draft hype.
Jay Bilas, a college basketball analyst for ESPN who also contributes at the network for the NBA Draft had similar thoughts on Flagg as he gets ready to embark on his professional journey.
“He checks more boxes than Zion did,” Bilas said on The Ryen Russillo Podcast.
He explained that he’s never seen anybody like Zion Williamson on a basketball court before and there likely will not be anybody like he again, but he doesn’t have all the skills that Cooper Flagg possesses.
“Flagg is the best freshman – best, most complete freshman Duke has ever had. Nobody has done what he’s done as a freshman at Duke.”
Bilas only linked the freshman season of Carmelo Anthony at Syracuse to what Flagg has done this year.
Cooper Flagg and Duke will try to replicate what Anthony and the Orange did by winning the National Championship, starting with its Final Four matchup against Houston on Saturday night (8:49 p.m. ET, CBS).