NBA Draft: Cooper Flagg reminds everyone why he's the top prospect in the draft

Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

Few folks understand this adage more deeply than Cooper Flagg, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

There has been a lot of hand-wringing over Flagg's production this season. He arrived at Duke just 17 years old, one of the youngest prospects on the board. He turned 18 a couple weeks ago. One would naturally afford a 17-year-old in college a bit of extra patience, right? Since Flagg is so young, he has more time to hone his skills before the arc of his career reaches its apex.

That is not how this works, of course. Flagg scrimmaged with Team USA over the summer and has been hailed as the next great NBA star for years in high school and on the AAU circuit. The hype machine comes with loaded, often unfair expectations. There was always going to be grumbling and bad-faith hot takes if Flagg started slow.

Hell, he hasn't even started slow. To average 16.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 2.9 stocks with the third-highest BPM among high-major freshmen is no small feat. Especially at Duke, often facing quality opponents. Flagg has struggled a bit with his scoring efficiency, however, shooting 50 percent on 2s and 27.1 percent on 3s. As a result, there has been mounting opposition to his status as the consensus No. 1 prospect in a loaded draft.

That noise was silenced this week, at least for a little bit.

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Duke's Cooper Flagg silences NBA Draft doubters with dominant NYE performance

Duke blasted Virginia Tech, 88-65, on New Year's Eve, led by none other than Cooper Flagg. The freshman forward scored 30 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including 2-of-4 from distance. He also netted six assists, four steals, and a block, all while committing just one turnover in 30 minutes of action.

It's important to put these "struggles" Flagg has experienced at Duke in the proper context. He is a 6-foot-9 forward who made his living on backdoor cuts, acrobatic finishes, and connective passes in high school. Flagg has been asked to operate in an entirely new capacity for the Blue Devils, carrying the second-highest usage rate among high-major freshmen. As a "forward."

Duke is asking Flagg to create from scratch a lot more than he's used to. Frankly, this is probably great for his long-term development. To reach his ceiling, Flagg will need to be comfortable creating advantages with his handle and delivering live-dribble passes or pull-up jumpers on a regular basis. For his immediate efficiency as a freshman at Duke, however, it's a bit rough. Flagg has been enduring a steep learning curve, and he's still plainly one of the most impactful freshmen in college hoops.

His performance against Virginia Tech was a not-so-gentle reminder to the skeptics: don't let 12 games of rocky shooting influence your evaluation too drastically. Flagg has always displayed soft touch around the basket (76.1 percent on free throws this season, too) and the 3-point mechanics look perfectly concise and repeatable. Even if he's not an elite shooter, there has never been much reason to doubt Flagg's jumper long term.

Flagg is, has been, and will be the No. 1 prospect in this draft. Dylan Harper is great. Kasparas Jakucionis is a hoot. Ace Bailey can get buckets. But Flagg is the best all-around player and the most easily projectable at the next level.