Duke’s Cooper Flagg ‘pretty surprised’ at invitation to join Team USA

LAS VEGAS — When Cooper Flagg got the call from Team USA executive director Grant Hill that he would be part of the team selected here for the Team USA training camp ahead of the Paris Olympics — becoming the first college player in more than a decade to attend the camp — he was honored. did not expect

“I was pretty surprised because it’s not like a normal thing,” Flagg told ESPN Sunday after his first scrimmage against the star-studded men’s national team. “So I was definitely really honored and excited to get this opportunity.

“If you think about it, you’ll be able to learn… if you look at their team, there’s nobody better. So to come here and learn, it’s a great experience and I’m really humbled and I’m really grateful and I am blessed to have been selected.”

Flagg, who will play for Duke this fall, is a 6-foot-9 forward and is projected by ESPN’s Jonathan Givney and Jeremy Wu to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft — a loaded class that looks set to tank for several teams. Steps have been taken for several weeks.

The 17-year-old put up eye-popping numbers in the Nike EYBL League — averaging 26.8 points, 12.4 rebounds, 5.2 blocks and 4.7 assists per game. He led Florida’s Monteverde Academy to a 30-0 record and a national title, in addition to participating in the Nike Hoop Summit and other high school all-star games.

As a result, Team USA made him the first college player to participate in training camp since Marcus Smart and Doug McDermott back in 2013 — and, according to Select Team coach Jamahl Mosley, he’s gotten even fitter.

“Well, I haven’t been around him, so meeting him the other day and talking to him the first day at practice, you could just see the quiet confidence that he carries with him,” Mosley, the head coach of the Orlando Magic, told ESPN. “His ability to know what he’s capable of, but the humility to know, ‘OK, I’m still trying to figure some of these things out at this level,’ but he’s not afraid of it. And that’s, that’s one thing you can tell right now.

“(He has a) high basketball IQ, tough, willing to learn,” continued Mosley. “He’s getting to the point where a shot needs a lot, being able to get to the rim, great touch on his shot.

“I mean, he can play. There’s no in between. I mean, in different forms, he can just flat out play.”

For his part, Flagg admitted that — at least initially — he was surprised when he stepped onto the court for the first time Sunday amid a scrimmage.

“I was a little surprised when I got up here at first,” Flagg said, “but once the ball’s up, it’s basketball to me at the end of the day.

“We’re all really good players, and I always look up to everyone on that team. But once we started playing, it was just competition.”

Flagg’s parents were on hand to watch him participate — he said he was happy to share the experience with them — as was John Scheer, his coach at Duke, where he could spend just one year before entering. The NBA flag said he will use his time in camp to learn as much as possible from the assembled stars as he prepares to join the league a year from now.

A prodigy who doesn’t turn 18 until December is a lot to soak up, and Kevin Durant was in his freshman season at the University of Texas, and LeBron James was already midway through his fourth NBA campaign.

“I think that’s everything,” Flagg said, when asked what he learned from the experience. “Just the way they treat themselves, the way they take care of themselves, how they treat their bodies, how they prepare.

“It’s really a learning curve and something that you have to learn it and you have to take it from other people and build your routine. So I think just going to see all their routines, how they look. The coaches, the communication with everybody. Do and see how they prepare.”