Former Duke star Cooper Flagg is the most hyped American prospect to enter the NBA in quite some time, but not everyone is sold on him becoming a force in the league. On the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, former ESPN writer Chuck Klosterman predicted Flagg’s career would look like that of Detlef Schrempf.
“I think he’s going to have a career like Detlef Schrempf,” Klosterman said. “… I think he’s going to be a very good player for a lot of years. Schrempf I think made All-NBA once. I think he was Third Team All-NBA once. A few All-Star games… I don’t see him [Flagg] as a dominating player.
“I think that he will be the second-best player on a good team or the third-best player on a great team,” Klosterman continued. “I like him as a player, but nothing I saw to me, not that I am an expert or anything, but made me think he’s going to be unstoppable. I think he’s just going to be very good.”
This might be the first time anyone has compared Flagg to Schrempf. Considering the insane hype, this would be a disappointing outcome. That’s not to say Schrempf didn’t have a good career. He averaged 13.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game in his 16 seasons in the NBA.
Schrempf made three All-Star teams to go with one All-NBA team and won Sixth Man of the Year twice. He was probably the third-best player for that Seattle SuperSonics team that made the NBA Finals in 1996 behind Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. Not many are fortunate to have the kind of career he had.
That said, you’d think Flagg would be one of those who’d have a better career than Schrempf. He averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game in 2024-25 for the Blue Devils and was the consensus National Player of the Year.
Flagg is also just the fourth freshman ever to win the Wooden Award. He was so good that Mike Krzyzewski called him Duke’s best-ever freshman.
Flagg might not be a generational talent, but you’d be disappointed if he doesn’t turn out to be a perennial All-Star. An anonymous NBA GM revealed that their scouts compared him to prime Kawhi Leonard, an indication of how highly some around the league view him.
Another GM, meanwhile, compared Flagg to Scottie Pippen. He reckons the 18-year-old can turn out to be an excellent second option, as Pippen was to Michael Jordan.
The Dallas Mavericks are set to land Flagg at the NBA Draft later this month, after stunningly winning the Draft Lottery. They’d be thrilled if he’s anywhere near as good as Leonard and Pippen.
Quite interestingly, it was the Mavericks who selected Schrempf with the eighth pick in the 1985 NBA Draft. He didn’t make much of an impact for them, though, and it was only after a trade to the Indiana Pacers in 1989 that the NBA saw the best of him.
