Sam Vecenie compares Cooper Flagg, Zion Williamson as prospects

Duke has been a talent factory in recent years, producing NBA prospects such as Zion Williamson and, most recently, Cooper Flagg. On the Game Theory Podcast, The Athletic draft expert Sam Vecenie revealed whether he thinks Flagg is a better NBA prospect than Williamson was.

“I personally do,” Vecenie said. “The reason for that is just that Zion always had injury questions. Even going back to high school, he had a couple of injuries that were a real factor there. Cooper does not really have those.

“And on top of it? What Cooper has, is the processing ability and the ability to make crazy, rapid decisions across the court and understands how to map the court as a passer and playmaker. Plus, be able to, I think, play at a high level on defense… Zion was like a great playmaker on defense, but would miss rotations. Cooper is a lot more solid and steady as an overall defender.”

It’s not an easy call to pick one Duke star over the other. Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.4 steals per game last season, while shooting 48.1% from the field and 38.5% from beyond the arc.

In comparison, Williamson averaged 22.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.8 blocks per game. He shot 68.0% from the field and 33.8% from 3-point range.

Each of them were named AP Player of the Year for their respective campaigns. While Williamson’s statistics are slightly better than Flagg’s in most areas, Flagg had more team success.

The Blue Devils reached the Final Four this past season while Williamson’s team fell in the Elite Eight despite being the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. Flagg is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, the same way Williamson was back in 2019.

Williamson has been successful in the NBA but missed lots of time due to injuries. Vecenie believes that Flagg will be able to avoid this pitfall. In fact, Vecenie doesn’t see any downsides to Flagg as a prospect.

“He created a ton of advantages with ball screens,” Vecenie said. “He was a constant mismatch nightmare in college, was a pick-and-roll ball handler to an iso threat when he saw a mismatch. They’d run him off screens.

“He was awesome, as a roller and as a cutter. He moves really well without the ball. Like, there is just not really a hole with Cooper Flagg to me, in terms of what his game is.”