"Always played against older kids": Cooper Flagg's first coach opens up on Duke superstar's intense competitive nature

Cooper Flagg is the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft. The 6-foot-9 forward could be heading to the Dallas Mavericks next season after a stellar one-season collegiate career at the Duke Blue Devils.

His first coach, Josh Grant, talked about the Newport, Maine, native and his competitive nature in an interview by CBS 13 News, uploaded on YouTube on Friday. He said about Flagg making it to the league.

"Yeah, for sure, there were moments where we were "Okay, when's he going to run into grown men and that he sort of struggles against a little bit or he always had the unique ability to just play against older, bigger stronger kids and adults and like I'll give credit to them, they always seek that out also like even him," said Grant. (from 1:50)

"He always played against older kids because they recognized that it wasn't good for him just to play against his own age group and not challenge himself, but, yeah, there were throughout those times where like okay he's going to try out for USA basketball." (Timestamp: 2:16 onwards)

Grant also commended Cooper Flagg's decision to reclassify.

"It's the opposite where you're reclassing down a grade or further away from your age group to sort of give yourself a little bit of extra time to grow into your body and sort of dominate those age levels but they've kind of taken the opposite approach his whole life where they've played against bigger, faster, stronger better players so that he could continue on his journey of getting better and improving." (Timestamp: 2:43 onwards)

---

A look at Cooper Flagg's season at Duke

The former Duke superstar averaged 19.2 points on 48.8% shooting, including 36.7% from behind the 3-point line. He also grabbed 7.5 rebounds, dished out 4.2 assists, blocked the ball 1.3 times and recorded 1.4 steals per game in his only season at Duke.

On Nov. 18, Flagg won the Atlantic Coast Conference rookie of the week honor and then led the Blue Devils to the ACC regular season title with a 19-1 record in conference play. One of his best performances came in the Final Four loss to Houston, recording 27 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.

Cooper Flagg became the fourth player to win both ACC Player of the Year and ACC Rookie of the Year in the same season, joining Zion Williamson, Marvin Bagley III and Jahlil Okafor.